Dragon Heart: A New Hope
by prosopopeya
Summary: This story is about the land after the movie and it tells the tale of two girls from very different backgrounds who must join together to fight an evil and save their people and the dragons. Rated for violence. NOW WITH CHAPTERS! Please rr
1. Encounters of Various Kinds

Disclaimer: I own nothing here pertaining to the movie of Dragon Heart (Bowen, Kara, Draco, etc.), however, the characters and ideas here that aren't present in the movie are mine. So please don't steal 'em. I'd appreciate it. :-D Thanks a bunch! Please read and review.  
  
Author's Note: This takes place sometime after the movie. I'm not quite sure when just know that it's sometime after. Since ffn is not letting me put asterisks or tildes in the story, I'll use the line breaks to symbolize the changes in perspective and scene changes. A bar will mean a new scene, a space a change in perspective.  
  
The moon sat high in the eternal night. Gwen sat on the roof of the bar she had lived and worked in for the past two years. Below in the streets of the village, the last few remaining drunkards stumbled back to their shacks. Her midnight blue eyes were turned up toward the starlit sky. She twirled a finger in her black as night hair as she pointed out constellations to herself.  
"Gwen! Get down here, girl! Stop your daydreamin'! You've gotta work in the mornin'!" Linda, the owner of the bar, called up the stairs to the roof.  
Grumpily, Gwen stood up. "It's not day!" she called back as she climbed down the stairs.  
"Don't sass me, girl," Linda sneered once Gwen came into view on the stairs.  
Gwen, not wanting to be homeless, didn't reply. Instead, she climbed into her bed on the floor and rolled over so she could look out the tiny window in the wall.  
Ever since she was five, Gwen had been living alone. Her parents had died in a peasant uprising that had failed. The Petersons still ruled over the people of their village, and their daughter, Zara, had already been set to marry some prince of a foreign land.  
Gwen sighed bitterly as their last name floated into her head. It was so close to her own—Peters—that it made her angry. Two letters more, and then she'd be part of that family. That family that represented everything she hated, but something she would give anything to be a part of. A solid place to live, no worries about money, just acting regal.  
She lay in the back room of the bar, and when the door to the bar was shut, she couldn't normally make out what the people out there were saying. But just now when Linda left the room, she hadn't closed the door all the way, and Gwen could hear people talking out there.  
A few men, a woman or two, and a boy that sounded as if he was around her age. They were talking about some sort of an uprising—a peasant uprising—against King Oswald and Queen Penelope. The King and Queen seemed to have been planning to build some large structure, and use peasant labor to do it. The last time peasants had made a structure for the King and Queen, most of the people either died, were tortured, got sick, or weren't given what they were promised.  
"This isn't going to happen again," one man in the bar said.  
"My informant also mentioned some sort of a battle between our village and some other one. But in addition to using their army, the King and Queen want to use the men of our village, whether they want to or not," a woman said.  
"That's outrageous!" another man replied.  
Gwen lay still, trying to be as quiet as possible. This kind of a meeting meant death according to the law of the land. Gwen knew that she probably shouldn't be listening, so she stayed quiet.  
Outside the bar, someone shouted. Everyone in the bar tensed and grew quiet. Then Gwen heard the chairs scrape against the floor as whispered voices hurried the plotters out the back door.  
Quickly, before Linda came in the back room, Gwen closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. As Gwen lay there in the late silence, she soon didn't have to pretend to be asleep. She already was.

* * *

Zara's eyes flew open. Outside the dawn was breaking, and she was waking up with it. The door to her expansive room was open, and in the hall she could hear the voices of servants going about their business.  
She slipped silently out of her bed and peeked out the doorway. The servants weren't looking in on her yet. She grabbed a robe and put it on over her nightgown before she slipped out to her balcony. She sat down on the loveseat and stared up at the transforming sky.  
"Andy! Where are you, dreaded boy?" the voice of Sir Eryk called in the courtyard below.  
Turning her sky blue eyes from the sky and tucking her sun-colored hair behind her ears, she carefully peeked over the edge of her balcony and looked down into the courtyard below.  
It was surrounded on all sides by the castle, and the side directly across from Zara—to the east—held the gates to the castle. To her left were the rooms of the knights and their squires, to her right were the quarters of the servants who worked in the castle. In Zara's wing, there were all the important rooms: the grand ballroom, the dining room, and the rooms of the royal family.  
Sir Eryk was standing in the middle of the desolate courtyard, looking around with an angry expression on his face. He looked around once more before he stormed off through the gates of the castle, them closing behind him.  
Zara—who wasn't very fond of Sir Eryk—started to smile to herself at his distress when she noticed movement in the shadows to her right. A boy about her age stepped out of the shadows. He peered carefully toward the gates before he stepped out to the edges of the courtyard, where some benches had been set up.  
He stared up toward the eastern sky. He had black hair and Zara couldn't make out his face, since he was facing away from her. Without warning, he suddenly turned and looked directly up to Zara's balcony. He saw her and quickly stood up.  
Zara gasped and stood up straight. Her eyes locked with his deep green ones and held. Neither Zara nor the boy moved.  
"Princess? Princess Zara, what are you doing out there, hm? You'll catch a chill," Emilia, Zara's main maid, scolded, coming out onto the balcony. She followed Zara's eyes to see the boy in the courtyard.  
Suddenly the gates flew open, and Sir Eryk charged in, madder than ever. "There you are, wretched boy!" he stormed, going over to the boy.  
The boy's eyes were torn from Zara's as he looked over at Sir Eryk. He started to reply to the knight when suddenly Sir Eryk grabbed his arm and shoved him toward the left. Sir Eryk stormed into the shadows on the left.  
The boy looked after Sir Eryk before looked up at Zara. He half smiled and nodded his head before he walked quickly after the knight.  
Emilia wrapped a shawl around Zara's shoulders. "Come back inside now, Miss." She looked back down into the now empty courtyard. "What were you looking at? That boy?"  
Zara nodded. "Do you know who he is?"  
Emilia shrugged. "Yes, of course, Highness. He's Anthony Samuels, though everyone just calls him Andy. He's Sir Eryk's new squire." Emilia looked into Zara's eyes, caught her look, and frowned. "Princess, you know that you must marry Prince Pelswick. Best not to worry yourself with Andy. Come inside now, Miss." Emilia went inside.  
Zara cast one last look into the empty courtyard before she followed Emilia inside.

* * *

Gwen carefully removed a mug from the hand of a sleeping drunk man at the bar. The sun had set a few minutes ago, and soon the bar would be closing. It always closed at sunset on Mondays, and Gwen hoped that she would get to meet the people who were in the meeting last night.  
Linda ushered the last few remaining conscious people from the bar before she had her husband carry the sleeping ones out. Harry, her husband, wasn't as cruel as Linda could be, and he smiled at Gwen as he picked up that man.  
"You certainly did a good job tonight, Gwen. Seven are asleep!" he said jovially as he hefted the rather large man from his seat at the bar.  
Suddenly, into the bar came a man and a boy. He had brown hair and brown eyes. The man looked like a bigger version of the boy.  
Harry hurried and dragged the man outside before he shut and locked the bar doors. He turned back around and faced the man. "Is it happening?"  
"Is what happening?" Gwen asked, coming out from around the bar.  
They all stopped and stared at Gwen. "Is she okay?" the man asked.  
Harry nodded. "Gwen won't tell anyone. Right, Gwen?" Harry asked, turning the last part toward Gwen.  
Gwen nodded. "Sure. No problem. It's not like I see anyone who isn't drunk anyway."  
Harry and the man nodded. The man stepped forward and stretched out his hand toward Gwen. "I'm Bowen, and this is my son, Josh," he said. Gwen shook the man's hand, then Josh's.  
They all sat down at a table and Bowen told Gwen basically everything she had heard the other night.  
"When will the uprising be?" Gwen asked.  
"Well, once we get word from our informant inside the castle, then we'll know when to make our move," Bowen replied.  
Gwen nodded. "Can I help?"  
Josh narrowed his eyes. "What can you do?"  
Gwen took offense. She sat up straight. "I know how to fight! I've been on my own since I was five, and I've had to learn how to take care of myself!"  
Harry put a hand on Gwen's shoulder to calm her down. "Gwen is a good fighter. And every night, after we close down the bar, I can teach her to sword fight. She's good with her fists; trust me on that one. I've seen her defend herself from drunk men at the bar many times."  
Bowen and Josh nodded. Barmaids, especially of Gwen's beauty and age, were usually taken advantage of by drunk men. Gwen sat up straighter and straightened out her shirt.  
Bowen nodded. "Of course you can help!"  
The meeting continued and details were planned. In the wee hours of the morning, as the sun was starting to come up, Bowen and his son finally left the bar. Gwen, yawning, pulled on her apron and started the day of work.  
Harry came up to Gwen. "You're too tired to be able to handle a place full of men. Why don't you go out and go shopping today, instead of Linda. Here, here's the list of the things we need." Harry handed Gwen a piece of paper.  
Gwen thankfully removed her apron and headed out the door. 

Zara walked through the streets of the village. Ahead of her, her parents rode on their horses. Behind Zara, her manservant led her horse, Sunny. Her horse had thrown a shoe, and instead of taking the horse of one of others, she instead decided to walk. It wasn't every day that she got to leave the confines of her palace grounds, and she didn't often get a chance to see her people. They passed by the market place, a bustling river of activity.  
"Filthy things, peasants," Sir Eryk said, riding up beside Zara on his horse.  
Zara looked up at him and tried to be nice. "But they are our people."  
Sir Eryk laughed. "Silly girl. Soon you must learn that people like them," he gestured with his hand to a girl with hair as black as night and eyes like midnight that was strolling through the marketplace, "don't matter."  
Zara looked up at Sir Eryk with anger boiling beneath the surface. He smirked and rode up past her. The girl he had pointed out was just then starting to cross the road that they were traveling on. Her foot hit a stone that was stuck in the road and she tripped, dropping her purchases all over the street. She fell forward and hit Zara, forcing her into a puddle of mud on the side of the street.  
She splashed into the mud and felt it ooze through her hair. She stood up, angrier than ever. The words that Sir Eryk had said rung through her head and now they didn't have any affect on her. In fact, they seemed to make sense.  
Her manservant helped her up. She twisted his arm from hers and stormed to the girl, who was just then picking herself up and dusting herself off. Her head had hit the rock when she fell, and she was bleeding from her temple. But Zara didn't care.  
"How dare you!" she raged at the girl.  
She looked up in alarm. Her eyes held a dizziness that must've been from the fall, but still Zara paid no attention. "I-I'm sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to. I tripped—"  
"I know what you did!" Zara raged.  
"Princess," Sir Eryk said, riding up to her. "How would you like to punish this servant?"  
Zara looked up at him in alarm. "Punish?"  
"Yes, Miss. Would you like to burn her eyes out?" Sir Eryk offered.  
"A proper punishment would be for her to be beaten," Lord Richard said, riding up beside Sir Eryk.  
Zara nodded. "I agree, Lord Richard." She turned to her manservant. "Do it," she commanded.

Gwen watched with wide eyes as the huge man tentatively stepped forward. He glanced back over his shoulder. "Miss, please don't make me."  
Sir Eryk sighed. "Fine, you coward. I'll do it."  
Gwen braced herself for the pain as the armored man stalked up to her.


	2. Alliances and Enemies

Climbing out of the tub, Zara couldn't help hearing the sound of Sir Eryk's armor as the girl had beat against him. It rang over and over again in her head. She couldn't believe she had lost her head like she had. Now she regretted it horribly. It was all that Sir Eryk's fault.  
  
She got dressed in some simple clothes and started to dry her hair with a towel, then decided to go outside and let it dry. She quietly slipped out of the castle and wandered into the woods. She came out into a clearing she had named Sun Dappled Orchard. She went out into the middle of the clearing and tilted her head up to the sky. She closed her eyes and flung her arms out, soaking up the sun.  
  
"Hello."  
  
Zara jumped and spun around. "Anthony!" she cried as she recognized the boy.  
  
He stepped out toward her. "Call me Andy. Enjoying yourself, Princess?" he asked.  
  
Zara smiled. "Yes. What are you doing out here?"  
  
"Hiding from Sir Eryk," he replied with a smile.  
  
"I don't blame you," Zara said, laughing. "He got me so mad today."  
  
"What'd he do?" Andy asked.  
  
"He said that the peasants were nothing."  
  
"And then one accidentally knocked you into a pile of mud and you had Sir Eryk beat her up," Andy said, narrowing his eyes.  
  
Zara looked at him in surprise. "You know about that?"  
  
He nodded. "Yeah. I live in the village. Besides, Sir Eryk was bragging about it."  
  
"That horrid man! It was he who offered the idea of punishment. And just before that he had made the comment about peasants and it was still fresh in my mind."  
  
"Andy!" came the voice of Sir Eryk. "Andy!"  
  
Andy looked toward the woods, then back at Zara. "I'd better go. Good day, Princess." With that, he left, leaving Zara to stare after him. Gwen was still sore from that stupid knight's beating. She had limped back to the bar and Harry and Linda had dressed her wounds, then spent the good part of an hour cursing about the royals. Bowen and Josh showed up, and Harry and Gwen talked with them in a corner booth.  
  
The informant had not yet gotten back to Bowen and Josh, but he had told them that he'd meet them later. The doors of the bars opened, and a boy with black hair and green eyes walked in.  
  
"Andy." Josh waved the boy over. He sat down at the table and nodded at Gwen.  
  
"Sorry 'bout that," he said.  
  
"How'd you hear about it?" Gwen asked him.  
  
He shrugged. "I live here. You hear things from the staff that comes in and out. The Princess feels bad about it," he added.  
  
"She should! What'd she do that for, anyway?" Gwen asked, feeling herself get angry.  
  
"That knight Sir Eryk, the one who beat you up, had just talked bad about peasants before it happened. Princess Zara guesses that that's why she reacted the way she did," the boy said.  
  
"I'm still mad at her," Gwen said, crossing her arms and setting her mind to it. "Who are you, anyway?" she asked.  
  
"He's Andy," Bowen said. "The informant from the castle."  
  
"He's a squire under Sir Eryk," Josh added.  
  
"Oh, great!" Gwen exclaimed, then lowered her voice. "Sir Eryk's such a wonderful guy."  
  
Andy shrugged. "I don't like him all that much."  
  
"Andy, have you heard any more news from the castle?" Bowen asked, bringing the table back to the subject.  
  
He shook his head. "I haven't been able to get inside the palace walls, and Sir Eryk and the other knights have been real good when it comes to information like that. They haven't slipped a thing, but I think I could work on Princess Zara. She seems to not like the ideals of her parents."  
  
"Whatever. I still don't like her," Gwen said.  
  
"We need to find out when the King and Queen are going to move," Bowen said, almost to himself, leaning in closer to the table.  
  
"Within the week," came a voice that Gwen all too well recognized. Everyone looked slowly up to see, in peasant's clothing with a hood over her face, Princess Zara.  
  
Quickly, Bowen stood up. "Princess, what a pleasure—"  
  
Princess Zara held up a hand. "Please, don't try to cover. I know you're planning an uprising." Everyone looked at the other with looks of dread.  
  
"What's the punishment going to be?" Josh asked in a small voice.  
  
"Nothing," Princess Zara replied. She pulled up a chair and sat next to Andy. "I want to help."  
  
Bowen, Josh, and Gwen stared at her with their mouths open. Only Andy could actually move. "I knew you would, Princess."  
  
She smiled at him. "Just call me Zara." She looked across the table and her eyes grew wide. "I can't believe it!"  
  
Gwen finally got mad enough to be able to move. "That's right. It's me."  
  
Zara raised a hand to her mouth in shock. "I can't believe it!" Gwen just nodded. Suddenly, the Princess was up and hugging Gwen. "I'm so sorry! Can you ever forgive me?"  
  
Gwen shoved the Princess away. "Get off me! No, I can never forgive you! You had that Sir Stupid beat me up!"  
  
Zara picked herself up from off the floor. "I know," she said miserably. "And I feel horrible about it."  
  
"How do you think I felt?" Gwen snapped back.  
  
Quickly, Josh stood up between the two. "Let's get back to what we were talking about," he said.  
  
Zara sat back down in her chair and crossed her arms. Gwen shot daggers at Zara with her eyes.  
  
"What were you saying about helping us, Princess?" Bowen asked.  
  
"I would like to help you overthrow my family, and please, call me Zara."  
  
"Why do you want to help us ruin your family?" Josh asked.  
  
"Because I don't like the way they run things, and Prince Pelswick is just the same way; they all are. I want to rule over this land justly and fairly." Gwen glared at her. She wasn't buying a thing. Zara caught her stare. "It's because of them that I behaved the way I did. If I'm around their influence much longer, I'm going to turn out just like them."  
  
Gwen nodded. "Oh, sure," she said sarcastically. "How do we know that once we're done with the uprising and you take the throne, that you won't turn out just like your parents?"  
  
"I give you my most solemn vow that I will not turn out like my parents," Zara said seriously. Gwen snorted.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I trust you on that," she said sarcastically again.  
  
Zara furrowed her brow. "You don't trust my honor?"  
  
"Not really, no," Gwen said.  
  
"Well then, I give you the absolute power to overthrow me if I should ever become unjust in the eyes of people. Give me a piece of paper and we shall make it a legal action." Andy went and got a napkin while Gwen went to get a pen from the back room. They returned and Zara wrote out what she had promised, then had everyone at the table sign it before she gave it to Gwen. "Happy now?" she asked. Gwen made a face at her as she folded up the napkin and put it in her pocket.  
  
Bowen stood up, followed by Josh. "I believe we should be leaving now."  
  
Andy stood up as well. "I'd better be getting back to Sir Eryk."  
  
"And I'd better get back to the castle before my absence is noticed," Zara said, standing up. They all filed out of the bar, leaving Gwen to stare after them.  
  
"Zara really gets me mad," Gwen grumbled to herself. "I can't wait to get her back." Zara, back into her regular clothes, searched for her parents inside the castle. She found them in the Great Hall, talking about the peasant war. She approached them and they looked up at her and smiled.  
  
"Yes, Zara, dear?" the Queen asked.  
  
"Mother, Father," Zara started. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves. She had never done anything like this before, and she was nervous. "I don't think that using the peasants in that war is a good idea."  
  
They stared at her blankly for a while before they burst out laughing. "A bad idea?" the King said, laughing.  
  
"Darling, what has gotten into you?" Queen Penelope asked with a smile on her face.  
  
"I don't think you should use the peasants," Zara said, getting angry at her parents' response.  
  
"Why of course we should! You think we should thin out our wonderful army on a war like this?" King Oswald replied, as if it were common sense.  
  
"Do you think we should thin out our wonderful people on a war like this?" Zara replied, her nervousness sinking away and her anger bubbling forth.  
  
"Sweetheart, the peasants don't matter," Queen Penelope said, beginning to frown.  
  
"Of course they matter!" Zara exclaimed. "Without them, there would be no kingdom."  
  
"But, Princess, they are expendable. They don't matter. They are beneath us," King Oswald replied.  
  
"They're not—" Zara started, then stopped herself. She knew it would do no good. "I just don't think that you should use the peasants."  
  
"Would you rather us lose our knights and our army?" King Oswald replied.  
  
"Why else do we have them?" Zara replied.  
  
Queen Penelope started to rub her temples. "Zara, sweetheart, I don't think we should discuss this right now. I'm getting a headache from all of this. We're using the peasants, and that's that. Now, run off to bed," her mother said, waving her hand in a dismissive manner at Zara. Zara turned and stormed off back to her room. She shut the door behind her and started to change into her nightclothes.  
  
"I can't believe my own mother dismissed me!" she exclaimed as she yanked her clothes off. "I can't believe what they said about our people!" She threw her clothes on the floor and pulled on her nightgown. "I can't believe. . .my parents!" she cried finally.  
  
She sat down before her mirror and started to pull a brush through her hair. She sighed and her mind ran through Gwen and her anger towards Zara.  
  
"Oh, I wish I could make things up to her, if only I knew how," she sighed to her reflection. She yawned, though the sun had just set only minutes ago. She climbed into her bed and blew out her candle. Slowly, her mad mind eased off into a dreamless sleep. The next day at the bar, Gwen was cleaning a table when she heard someone approach her. She looked up to see a small-framed someone wearing a cloak with the hood covering their face.  
  
"May I help you?" Gwen asked politely, standing up.  
  
The person looked up so that Gwen could see into their hood. Zara. "Oh, it's you," Gwen said bitterly.  
  
"Yes," Zara replied. She seemed to have not really noticed a thing that Gwen had just said to her. Gwen resumed cleaning the table. "I've come to tell you that my parents aren't giving in on this war, and we should act very soon."  
  
"And what am I supposed to do with this information?" Gwen asked as she wiped down the table.  
  
"I don't know. I thought you might know where to find Bowen, or someone else in charge of this operation."  
  
"Why didn't you just tell Andy?" Gwen asked, continuing to clean.  
  
"Maybe I wanted to come out and talk to you!" Zara replied, becoming angry.  
  
"Talk to me? Why would you want to talk to me?" Gwen replied. She stood up and threw the rag back into the bucket and leveled her eyes with Zara's.  
  
"Well, I don't know. Maybe because I thought we could be friends," she replied.  
  
Gwen stared at her for a few more minutes before she burst out laughing. "Us? Friends? I don't think so."  
  
Zara appeared taken aback. "Why not?"  
  
Gwen grew wide-eyed. "Why not? Why not! I can't believe this!" Gwen stormed off behind the bar and put the bucket back underneath the counter. Zara followed her.  
  
"Why not?" she asked again.  
  
Gwen stood up and stared at the brat before her. "Because, you little brat, you had me beaten up just because I got a little mud on you. Then you intrude on the one thing that might turn my life around. All I want to do now is just get away from you!"  
  
Gwen turned back around and continued arranging things under the bar. When she stood back up, Zara was still there, and now her eyes were full of hurt, and they were brimming with tears. Her lip was trembling, whether from anger or from holding back tears, Gwen couldn't tell.  
  
"You—you—" Zara sputtered. "Heathen! You heathen! I could never be friends with you, ever! Look at you! You're filthy and you smell of rot!" She started walking toward Gwen, forcing her to back up. "I hope I never see you again!" With that, Zara spun and stormed out of the bar.  
  
Gwen stared after her. She did not get that brat. She seemed upset that Gwen wouldn't be friends with her. Gwen shook her head. Why was she caring anyway? Zara was just a spoiled brat. So why couldn't Gwen stop thinking about how upset she looked?  
  
Zara walked down the road, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. How dare that heathen say those horrid things to her! Her anger started to ebb away, and now she could only feel the pain. The pain of the things Gwen had said to her, and what she had said to Gwen. She hadn't really meant it. Now she was tempted to turn back and apologize.  
  
Screams brought Zara out of her thoughts. She looked up to see a huge army, much bigger than that of her small kingdom, charging into the small village. They carried swords and weapons high above their heads, and they were screaming war cries.  
  
Zara stared at the oncoming death march, and screamed her head off.  
  
The next thing she knew, her feet had started running in the other direction, and suddenly, Zara was back in the bar. Gwen saw her and grimaced. Zara saw that standing with Gwen were Bowen, Josh, Andy, a girl and what appeared to be a monk. Zara looked around at all the people in the bar. She could just now hear the screams of the frightened villagers and the war cries of the soldiers.  
  
"There's a huge army coming this way!" she cried. No one moved. She stared at them in horror before she turned and threw open the doors to the bar. Now the screams came readily through the open doors. Now they listened.  
  
Everyone jumped up and started to break the tables to use as weapons. Zara hurried back to her friends. A sense of urgency hung in the air amongst her fellow conspirators.  
  
"They acted sooner then we'd expected," Bowen was saying as Zara approached.  
  
"I haven't heard anything about it from Sir Eryk," Andy said.  
  
"I spoke to my parents last night," Zara said. "I asked them not to use the villagers in the war. They laughed at me."  
  
Bowen nodded. "That wouldn't surprise me." He turned to Gwen. The cries outside were growing slowly closer as the soldiers tore through the shops and homes out there. "Do you have a weapons place?"  
  
Gwen shrugged. "I don't know."  
  
"Yes, we do," Harry said suddenly behind them. He had thrown open a trapdoor at the very back wall, and looking down into it, Zara could see shelves upon shelves of weapons. Harry stood up on a table. "Weapons back here!" he called. Then he handed a sword to Bowen, Andy, Gwen, and Josh. Linda came forward with a bow and arrow in her hands.  
  
Harry tried to hand Zara a sword, but she shook her head. "I've never fought before, so I'm afraid I wouldn't know what to do with that."  
  
Harry gave her a look, then ushered her into the back room. "You stay there," he told her. Zara nodded as Harry closed and locked the door. 


	3. Escape

Gwen tested her sword a few times before she readied herself for the fight. Adrenaline surged through her. Suddenly, the door to the bar was filled with soldiers as they rushed in.  
She charged forward and slung her sword into the side of an amour- less soldier. He yelled in pain and tried to get Gwen but she dodged quickly aside and delivered another blow. He again lunged at Gwen, but she dodged him.  
Twisting away, she attacked another, then backed against the wall to survey the scene. Soldiers were everywhere and they were fighting bravely. She saw Andy and Josh, fighting together, defending themselves against four enemies. Bowen and the woman were fighting bravely as well, and the monk had taken a position somewhere and was firing arrow bolts and doing a good job of it as well.  
Gwen threw herself back into the fight, bringing down many soldiers and receiving only one blow to her shoulder.  
Suddenly, the sound of shattering wood and a girl screaming took over the bar. Gwen turned to see the door to the back room open, and Zara screaming at a soldier that had broken the door open. Gwen was about to go and help Zara when Andy slammed his sword into the neck of the soldier. Bleeding, the soldier slumped to the floor, obviously dead.  
Gwen's attention was drawn back to the fight as someone slammed into her. She kicked whoever it was off and spun around to counterattack. She brought her sword down onto his shoulder and followed it through with a left hook in his jaw. The man yelled as he fell. Suddenly, Gwen was swamped with soldiers all around her. She managed to fight some of them off, but they just kept coming back.  
Slam!  
A man fell.  
Slam!  
Another.  
Slam!  
The sound of clanging metal filled the room as soldier after soldier was cast to the floor. Gwen looked up at her savior, prepared to thank him, then groaned.  
Zara stood before her, looking triumphant, holding a frying pan. "This works quite well."  
Gwen just rolled her eyes and prepared to turn when she was suddenly thrown back against the wall. The soldier brought his sword up to cut off her head. Zara rushed forward, but she was stopped by more soldiers.  
Gwen threw up her hands to defend herself. The bracelet with the black charm with purple swirls that she had worn since before she was born faced the man, the light glinting off the metal. The man brought the sword down—  
—and it was stopped by a black and purple shield. The man stared at her with wide eyes before trying the sword again, only to be thrown back this time by a lightning force. Everyone had stopped fighting now and was staring at Gwen.  
She brought her hand down and the shield disappeared. She stared in wonderment at her hand, and noticed the bracelet. The shield that had formed looked just like the charm in her bracelet: black with purple swirls in it.  
With everyone staring at Gwen, they had forgotten about the fight. Now, more enemy soldiers rushed in, and in an instant, the fight resumed.  
Gwen still stared in amazement at her own hand, not paying attention to the fight around her.  
A man jumped in front of her, and a second later a blade sliced him through his stomach from behind him. The man fell to show Josh behind him. He smiled and then turned to continue fighting. Snapping out of her stupor, Gwen hefted her sword and resumed fighting.  
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zara. Her frying pan had been batted out of her hand and now she was backed up against the bar, a man with a sword advancing slowly on her.  
She held up her hands and her face was pleading with him to let her go. She turned to run but he grabbed her cloak and it came off in his hands. Gwen was surprised to see that Zara hadn't been wearing her fancy clothes beneath the cloak, but a simple peasant dress, similar to what she had herself.  
Then her eyes were drawn to something around Zara's neck. A necklace, one with a charm exactly like the one Gwen wore around her wrist, only instead of black and purple, it was bright orange and red. The metal around her charm was shaped into small triangles, making the charm appear to be the sun, when Gwen's was simply circular, with dragons forming a circle around the charm. It always made Gwen think of the moon.  
Now as the man approached her again, Zara brought her hands up again. One brushed her necklace, and then, suddenly, a sword with a hilt the color of fire and in the shape of a dragon, with a blade made of rubies appeared before Zara. Without even a look of surprise, Zara grabbed the sword and spun. Her hair flowed out behind her like a fan. She spun her sword right into the man's side, and she had done it so fast that the man never even saw her.  
Now Zara started to fight ferociously, charging into people and having them down as quickly as she moved. Her sword winked in the lights of the bar, making it appear to be a sword of pure fire. It winked in her eyes, making her eyes seem to have fire licking at them from her bottom eyelashes. Red reflections glinted in her hair and on her skin. She appeared to be made of fire.  
  
Zara felt as if she no longer had control of her body. She was twirling and fighting and slicing, but she couldn't stop. She didn't want to stop.  
The sword felt alive in her hands, and it flowed warm energy up her arm and through her body. She felt so at peace. She had never felt so alive and so calm at the same time before in her entire life.  
On her chest, she could feel her necklace burning warmth into her skin. It didn't hurt; it was like the sword. She knew that they were connected somehow, but right now she was so content that she didn't want to trouble herself.  
Finally, her body stopped flowing and she had control again. She marveled the sword in her hands and looked at the bodies sliced by it. The blade had already been red before, and now that Zara could look at it, she could see that it was made of rubies. She touched the edge of a blade with her finger ever so gently, but her finger came back with a small slice on it.  
"It's so sharp, it must be magic!" she whispered to herself.  
"Zara?" Andy asked, coming up beside her. She looked up at him and smiled.  
"Hi, Andy," she said.  
"Hi. Where'd you get that sword?" he asked.  
She shrugged. "I'm not really sure."  
Suddenly, Gwen screamed. She was back against a wall, weaponless. A man had her arm with the bracelet on it in his firm grasp. She struggled against him, but it was no use. Andy and Zara started to move forward to help their friend, but suddenly a black and purple light appeared and the man stepped back.  
A black shield with a purple dragon against a black background with stars flecked in it materialized before Gwen. She grabbed it and slipped her arm through before she shoved the man back. He flew back and forced Andy and Zara to dodge out of the way. He crashed into the bar and started to moan. Zara brought up her sword and ran him through.  
Josh, Bowen, and the girl stumbled from where they had been fighting and won. A few of the people who were originally in the bar were still alive, and they stumbled around as well. Usually after a battle, people generally stumble around anyway, but after seeing Gwen and Zara and their. . .well, everyone was in a general daze.  
Harry and Linda came forward and stared at Gwen for a while before Linda started to tend to the wounds of the hurt men. Everyone besides the small group of conspirators and the men who couldn't walk left to go check on their families.  
Bowen and the woman approached Zara. Gwen walked over to the small group, and Josh trailed behind Bowen. The monk came out from behind the door, where he had been shooting off arrows. Harry also stepped up.  
"That was. . ." the woman began.  
"Incredible," Harry finished. "Where did those things come from?"  
Zara shrugged. "I don't know."  
"I don't know either," Gwen said.  
"How did you learn to fight like that?" Harry asked. "I thought you said you never fought before."  
"I haven't. I've never even seen a fight before," she replied.  
"Then how did you know to do all that?" Gwen asked.  
Zara shrugged again. "I don't know. I just. . .did it. I think it was the sword that took control of me."  
Gwen scowled. "Let me see that." Gwen reached forward and yanked the sword out of Zara's hands before her hand that was holding the sword fell to the floor.  
  
_This sword weighs a ton!_ thought Gwen. _How can that brat pick it up?  
_ "Gwen! Are you all right?" Zara asked worriedly. She took the sword from Gwen, who stood up. Her eyes grew big. Zara handled it as if it were nothing but a piece of string!  
"Isn't that sword heavy to you?" Gwen asked.  
Zara shook her head. "No."  
"What's wrong, Gwen?" Andy asked.  
"Feel that sword," she said. Andy reached over and took the sword from Zara. It had the same affect on him that it did on Gwen. Zara took the sword back.  
"That thing is heavier than all of my amour put together!" Andy cried.  
Zara appeared uncomfortable with all the attention drawn to her. She quickly pointed to Gwen's shield. "What about your shield, Gwen? Let me feel that," Zara said, reaching for the shield. Gwen reluctantly gave it to her before it, in Zara's hands, almost fell on Gwen's foot.  
"Watch it!" Gwen cried, jumping back. She took the shield back and handed it to Bowen, whose hand was outstretched to take it. It had the same affect on him. Gwen took it back.  
"That's weird," Josh said.  
"It sure is," the woman replied.  
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Zara asked politely.  
The woman smiled. "I'm Kara."  
"And I'm Brother Gilbert. I don't believe we've met either," the monk said, smiling and stretching forth a hand. Gwen shook it and so did Zara.  
While they had been talking, the wounded men had left and now Linda joined the group, a sour look on her face. "I hope you don't expect to stay here anymore, girl," Linda sneered. "I won't have a witch in my bar."  
"Linda!" Harry scolded. He came over and looked her in the eyes. "How could you say that?"  
"I never wanted to take her in anyway!" Linda cried. "I had a feeling she was strange. Now I know she's a witch." She spat out the last word like sour milk.  
Gwen shot her a mean look. "I don't even want to stay here anymore anyway."  
Zara had gone to look out the doors. Now she turned back around with a worried look on her face. "I don't think you'd be able to, even if you could."  
Gwen turned around. "What are you talking about?"  
Zara pointed out the doors. "My father's head knights. They're coming this way."  
"So?" Gwen snapped.  
Zara shot her a nasty look. "So," she became serious, "one of them—Lord Richard—is holding a piece of paper. It's a warrant. Probably for our arrest. Conspiring against the throne is punishable by death."  
"Yeah, we know that. How do you know it's a warrant?" Josh asked.  
"Because only Lord Richard would ever carry a warrant. That's about the only thing he'd ever carry anyway. And Sir Eryk is looking too happy for this to be anything else."  
"Do you think they're onto us?" Bowen asked. They knights had stopped and were searching and asking people questions.  
"There's someone else riding a horse with them," Zara said. "I can't tell who it is."  
Bowen came up to look carefully around the corner. "No," he whispered.  
Gwen came up behind him. "What is it?" she asked him.  
"It's one of my friends. He helped me come up with the plot. Looks like he's turned against us." Bowen turned around and hurried to the back of the bar. "Is there a backdoor out of here?" he asked.  
Harry nodded. "Sure." He went to the back room and opened a door.  
Bowen came out and grabbed Josh and Kara. "Let's get out of here." He turned to Zara, Gwen, Andy, Gilbert, Linda and Harry. "Come on."  
Everyone hurried out except Harry. He stood there. "Go on without me," he said. Bowen turned back and looked at him. "Come on, Harry!"  
Harry shook his head. "Go, Bowen. I'll distract them." Bowen hesitated, but then Harry came and shoved him out the door. "Go! Save Zara and Gwen. I have a feeling about them, Bowen. I think they're important to us." The knights had started to thump around the bar. Harry looked over his shoulder, then back at Bowen. Urgency was etched across his face. "Go, Bowen!" He shoved Bowen out the door and slammed it shut.  
Brother Gilbert and Josh grabbed Bowen and dragged him away. He snapped out of it enough for them to run. They ran as fast as they could into the woods, which luckily wasn't very far away.  
From their distance away, they could hear Harry's screams of pain. Everyone's face was twisted with horror as they disappeared into the woods. They kept running until Linda collapsed.  
"I can't run anymore," she panted.  
They all stopped and then they realized how tired they all were.  
"What happened to Harry?" Zara asked tentatively.  
Andy turned to her. "What do you think happened to him?" he asked sarcastically.  
"Linda's right. We can't run anymore," Gilbert panted.  
Bowen nodded. "We'll camp here for tonight."  
"Here?" Zara asked, a disgusted look on her face.  
"What do you expect? A castle?" Gwen snapped.  
Zara shrugged. "That's what I'm used to."  
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Let's just start setting up camp." 


	4. Revelation

Zara walked through the woods, searching for small sticks to use as firewood. Her sword she had laid carefully on a rock and covered with her cloak, which she had recovered after that horrid man tore it off.  
Gwen still wasn't being nice to her, and Zara had been nice to her since she had called her a heathen.  
Zara shook her head. Why was she wondering about that horrid, rude person anyway? Harry floated into her mind and she sobered. She hadn't really known him, but he had seemed a nice man. She knew that Sir Eryk had probably killed him. That man could make her so mad.  
Zara returned to the camp, arms full of firewood. She dropped the pile where Bowen had told her too, then asked him if she could help him anymore.  
"Uh, no, I don't think so. . .no," he told her before he resumed gutting the fish that he, Josh, and Andy had caught earlier.  
Wrinkling her nose, Zara hurried away from the disgusting smell of the fish. She looked around the camp to see that Gwen, Andy, and Josh were all heading off in one direction.  
"Where are you going?" she asked, coming up to them.  
They looked at her. "Swimming. Want to come?"  
"I've never been swimming," Zara replied.  
They gaped at her. "Never been swimming?" Josh asked.  
Zara shook her head. "Never."  
"Well, come on then," Andy said. They all started off and Zara trailed along with them.  
Finally, they reached the river. The crystal clear water fell from the waterfall, but the water at the bottom—where they were going to swim—was filthy. Gwen, Andy, and Josh stripped down to their underclothes and climbed up to a place where they could jump in. Zara, after stripping to her underclothes, followed them. From up above, she could see that the water was practically all brown.  
Gwen jumped in, followed by Josh. Andy was behind Zara, who looked down at the water with untrusting eyes.  
"Jump in already!" Gwen called from below.  
"That water is filthy!" Zara cried down to Gwen.  
"What's the matter? Are you scared?" Gwen taunted.  
Zara made a face. "No! It's just that I don't want to get in that disgusting water!" Suddenly, Zara felt herself being propelled down to the water below. She twisted her body so that she was in a diving position and then she hit the water. It split around her body as she twisted herself around to be able to come back up to the surface.  
"That was unnecessary!" she called up to Andy before she made to get out of the water.  
"Getting out?" Gwen asked teasingly. Andy jumped in, causing the water to splash all over the young teenagers.  
Zara made a face at Gwen as she continued to the edge of the water. Suddenly, hands pushed her head into the water and she was under. She reached around and socked whoever it was in the stomach before she came back above the water. Without even looking to see who it was, she shoved them down into the water. After a few minutes of useless struggling, Zara let them up. It was Josh!  
"I'm sorry," she apologized as he spit out water. He just gave her a look, then swam away.  
Zara decided to stay in the water, and they had swimming races and they just goofed off for a while until Bowen called out for the boys' help. They left Zara and Gwen in the river.  
"Want to have a race?" Gwen challenged.  
Zara shrugged. "Why not?" They positioned themselves for the race when a voice called out from behind the waterfall.  
"Who goes before me?" came the deep, masculine voice. The two girls looked at each other before they approached the waterfall.  
"Um, Gwen," Gwen replied.  
"And Zara," Zara piped.  
"Qwen and Zara?" replied the voice with shock emanating throughout it.  
"Gwen," Gwen replied.  
The voice stopped for a moment, then started speaking again. "No, no. I can recognize the both of you. You're Zara and Qwen, the fulfillers of the prophecy!" the voice cried.  
"What prophecy?" Zara asked, stopping Gwen from correcting the voice.  
Whoever it was sighed. "You mean you haven't heard?" The girls shook their heads. "All right, I'll tell you.  
'_Two charms were made  
And a spell was bade  
A charm of the sun  
For the fighting one  
And a charm of the moon  
For the one who casts runes  
  
A sword and a shield  
And a protector for each  
And two dragons to guide their way  
Their journey will be long  
And their quest will be tough  
But at the end comes a reward  
  
For the return of the reign of sisters Zara and Qwen  
Marks the return of the dragons to all._'"  
  
"Sword? Shield? A charm of the sun and the moon? That sounds like us!" Zara cried. She was starting to get excited.  
"'The one who casts runes?' What is that supposed to mean?" Qwen asked.  
"Well, when this spell was cast, casting runes was what they called spell casting," the voice knowledgeably replied.  
"Gwen, this sounds like us!" Zara cried, turning to Gwen.

Gwen stared at Zara like she had lobsters crawling out of her nose. She seemed so anxious to accept this. . .this. . .voice! I mean, really. Charms? Dragons? That's ridiculous. And that's what she told Zara.  
"Yes, but isn't it all so fantastic?" Zara cried back. Her eyes had become glazed over with happiness.  
Gwen rolled her eyes. "All right, fine. Let's just say that I believe you, whoever you are. Mind you, I think you're crazy, but just for the sake of argument, let's say I believe you. What would that mean?"  
"Well, I would tell you how to get your dragons, and how to access your powers," the voice replied.  
"Dragons?! Are you serious?" Zara cried. She seemed to be really getting into this. "I thought all the dragons died with Draco," she said.  
The voice came back, bemused. "They did all die with me."  
Zara and Gwen's mouths dropped open. "You're Draco?" Zara asked, shocked.  
"Of course I am," came the voice. "Who else would be sent to guard the prophecy?"  
"This is amazing!" Zara cried.  
Gwen still didn't believe all of this. "Prove it."  
"Prove what?" Draco replied.  
"Prove all of this stuff you're telling us," Gwen shot back.  
"Do I have to? Haven't you already seen enough proof getting your shield?"  
"And my sword!" Zara cried. "That's how I knew how to use it! It's inside of me!"  
Draco laughed. "Yes, exactly. You know, Zara, you haven't changed from the way you were."  
"You mean we were alive once before?" Zara asked.  
"That's right. You and your sister Qwen ruled over the humans and the dragons and all lived in peace. Then the Dark Lord Frityr rose to power and cast a curse upon you. But the good work of the great wizard Arawn and the Dragons cast the spell that I recited earlier to bring you back and restore the dragons to the earth and to take rule over the land again."  
"Let's not get off the subject here. Prove to us that you're telling the truth," Gwen said, still disbelieving.  
"You haven't changed either, Qwen. Now, let me see. Your companions, uh. . .Joshua and Anthony? Correct?" Draco asked.  
"Josh and Andy, yeah," Gwen replied. "That's just a lucky guess."  
"Okay. Well then, something that she would believe. . .Do you believe that seeing is believing?" Draco asked.  
"Depends on what I'm seeing," Gwen replied.  
"Well, let's try this then." Suddenly the water started to glow a crystal clear color that flowed up into Gwen and Zara. It turned black and purple for Gwen and orangey-red for Zara. It covered Gwen completely and then it faded away. Gwen looked over to see Zara standing beside her. She had orange and red streaks in her hair and a crown of fire. Her body was covered in a flame-colored dress and she wore red gloves.  
In the very center of her chest there was a dragon, its frame surrounded by a white line. The dragon was red with orange flame patterns. You could only see its side, so you could only see one eye, and that eye was the sun charm that had been on the necklace around Zara's neck.  
Gwen looked down at herself to see that she was wearing a black dress with a purple dragon with black swirls all over it, its form surrounded by a black light. She wore black gloves and she reached up to her head. She could feel a crown and she looked down into the water—that had now become crystal clear—and could see a crown of the deepest shade of blue the sky ever got during sunset and it had twinkling lights in it to represent the stars. She looked up into the waterfall.  
"Now I believe you," she said.  
Draco laughed. "I think that your companions, Andy and Josh, will also believe me now."  
"Andy and Josh? What do they have to do with this?" Gwen asked.  
Zara gasped and her eyes sparkled even harder. "They're the protectors from the song, aren't they?" she asked with a delighted wonder in her voice.  
Draco laughed. "Yes, they are." The sounds of running came from behind the two girls and they looked over their shoulders to see two boys, both wearing completely black pants and shirts, but each had something special about them.  
One, with brown hair and brown eyes, had a deep blue dragon with purple coming in on the edges of the body on his chest and he carried a sword, which glinted blue light. The other, with black hair and green eyes, had an orange dragon with red tendrils of fire on its legs, with a sword glinting orange. They ran up to the two girls and stopped dead in their tracks.  
The black haired one looked from Zara and back to Gwen. Finally, his eyes settled on Zara. "Zara?" he asked unsurely.  
Zara narrowed her eyes and stepped forward. "Andy?"  
Gwen stepped forward and peered at the still-staring brunette. "Josh?"  
"Gwen?" replied the boy.  
Finally all of them burst into smiles and laughed. They stepped forward and inspected the others' costumes. Finally, Draco cleared his throat.  
"Um, can we get back to the serious stuff now?" he asked.  
Both boys jumped and stared at the falls. "The water can talk?" Josh asked.  
Draco laughed. "I'm not just water. I'm Draco, the one who was sent to tell you about your destiny."  
"Our what?" Andy asked.  
Draco sighed and explained everything all over again.  
"So, we get dragons?" Andy asked.  
"That's right," Draco replied.  
"Sweet!" he cried.  
"When do we get them?" Zara asked.  
"As soon as I can tell you where to find them," Draco replied.  
Now Gwen was excited. She believed the old dragon—yes, she also believed that the spirit of the old, dead dragon was in that waterfall—and she couldn't wait to hear about that dragon of her own. But as looked over at Andy and Josh, and then at Zara, she noticed something: she was the only one who didn't get a sword.  
  
Zara could barely contain herself. She was so excited that she was breathing in ragged, quick breaths. Her heart was thudding like crazy, and she knew that was because everything about her was finally being put back together.  
"Go to the Old Forest, the Forest of Gandor. In the heart of the forest is a giant tree, the oldest tree in the world. Each of you positions yourself at your respective points at the tree. Qwen, you are north; Zara, south; Andy, east; and Josh, west."  
"Why are those our points?" Qwen asked.  
"Well, you, Qwen, are north because you are the moon and the mystical powers of the stars. Zara, you are the south because you are the sun and the fires of the sun. Andy, you are east because you are the sunrise. Josh, you are the west because you are the sunset," Draco explained.  
"What happens after we stand in the right place?" Zara asked.  
"Then you step forward and place your right hand on the tree. Close your eyes and picture the dragons that are on your chests. The rest will come. Go now, you know what you need to know."  
Zara, Andy, Josh, and Qwen turned to go back into the waiting trees of the forest.  
  
Gwen doubled back and walked back up to the waterfall. "Why don't I have a sword?" she called into the cascading water.  
Draco sounded as if he had been leaving, but suddenly came back. "Huh?" he grunted.  
"You heard me," Gwen replied. "Why don't I have a sword?"  
Draco took a while to reply. "Because, Qwen, you have powers beyond that of a sword. You know that the Dragon Heaven is in the stars?" Draco asked. Gwen nodded. "Then do you understand that because you are of the night sky that you have the powers of Dragon Heaven? You have much magic within you, Qwen. You don't need a sword."  
Gwen scowled. "Don't talk in riddles. Tell me flat out."  
Draco sighed. "You have magic powers, Qwen. A lot of them. You don't need a sword."  
Gwen nodded and still felt annoyed that she hadn't gotten a sword, but there was this feeling of flattery from the ancient dragon's words. "I still want a sword," she grumped and she turned and skulked away, the sound of the dragon behind her chuckling softly.


	5. A Destination

The next morning, Zara awoke with the sun. She had been having a dream that Andy was watching her while she slept, and for some reason that made her wake with a smile. She stood up and stretched and looked around the woods. Yesterday, when they left the little lake, their regular clothes replaced themselves. Draco's voice in their heads told them that the way to return to those clothes was to rub their charm while thinking of them.  
She walked away from the campsite, looking up at the sky, the sun just beginning to rise. She wandered a little ways off into the woods, and found herself in a small clearing, with a perfect view of the rising sun. Her breath rushed away from her and flew up into the majestic beauty of the splashes of oranges, reds, and yellows dashed across the early morning sky.  
"'Morning," someone greeted from off to Zara's right.  
She jumped and turned to see Andy standing there. She smiled at him. "Good morning."  
"So, what are you? A dragon princess now?" he asked, stepping out from the shadows of the trees. He walked over next to Zara and looked up at the sky. Zara could see the reflections of the sky on his face. She smiled, in spite of herself.  
"I don't know. What are you? My protector or something?" she replied.  
He looked at her. "Wasn't I already?"  
She laughed and looked down. "I guess so. But now I get to be a kick- butt fighter with a cool sword."  
From back in the camp they could hear Bowen and the others waking.  
The thoughts of her dream floated back into Zara's head, and she had to be sure. "How long have you been up?" Zara asked Andy.  
He shrugged. "Long enough I guess to see the sun come up."  
Zara bit her lip and looked down.  
"Zara! Andy! Where are you? Come on, we've got to eat so we can get moving!" Bowen called through the camp.  
Zara and Andy turned and headed back to the campsite. As they approached, they could see that Qwen and Josh were just getting up. They seemed upset to be waking up, and suddenly Zara laughed at herself for thinking that. She realized for the first time that ever since she was little, as soon as the sun sank over the horizon she was ready for bed, and as soon as it started to come back up, she would wake up. Andy seemed to always be up for the sunrise, which made sense for him. And Qwen and Josh were the night and evening people.  
"Where are we going now?" Linda whined.  
"Well I don't know," Bowen mocked her.  
Zara took a deep breath. "Why don't we go to the Old Forest?" she asked.  
Bowen looked at her. "Old Forest?"  
"The Forest of Gandor?" Andy offered.  
"Forest of Gandor?" Now Brother Gilbert stepped forward. "Where did you hear about the Forest of Gandor?"  
The four kids looked at each other. "Well," Qwen started, then shook her head. "Just never mind. Can we go there?"  
Bowen ignored her and looked at Brother Gilbert. "What is this Forest?"  
"It's highly magical. In the old days, dragons roamed it freely with no chance of being hunted," he replied.  
Bowen looked at Qwen. "Why do you want to go there?" he asked.  
The kids looked at each other again. "Let's not discuss that right now," Zara said, stepping forward. "Can we just get on our way?" She looked at Brother Gilbert. "Is it far from here?"  
He shook his head. "No, miss. Just a day's walk; two at the most."  
She nodded her head as if that settled everything. "That's not so bad, now is it? Let's head off for it, then."  
Bowen held up his hands. "Just hold it right there, Highness. We're not going anywhere until you tell me why you are so gung ho to go to this What-cha-ma-call-it Forest."  
"Forest of Gandor, and I don't think you'd believe us," Zara replied.  
Bowen raised his eyebrows. "Try me."  
Zara—and every one of the Four Chosen (for that is what they are called, you see) —could see that Bowen was getting quite upset by this time. Zara cleared her throat.  
"Well, yesterday, at the waterfall, we were swimming and all of a sudden. . ." Zara continued to tell the tale of the encounter with Draco and the dresses and the spell and by the time it was over, everyone had sat down and Brother Gilbert had started a nice fire. Once Zara was finished, everyone just sort of stared at her and Zara began to feel rather uncomfortable.  
Finally, Bowen moved. "And you expect me to believe all that?"  
Zara shrugged. "I didn't want to tell you. You made me."  
"Can you prove it?" Kara asked. Everyone stared at her. She shifted. "Who's to say they're not telling the truth? Less amazing things have happened to us."  
Brother Gilbert nodded. "That story does ring true. The Spell is in many books."  
Bowen sighed. "Can you prove it?" he asked.  
The Four Chosen stood up and stared nervously at each other. The boys did have charms; they had pocket watches. The explanation for them being with the boys since their birth was easily made since both were orphaned at birth, Josh not being the direct son of Bowen and Kara.  
Andy's watch was an ordinary pocket watch, except that the front and back of it was a mysterious orange and yellow, and the face of the watch was that of the rising sun. Josh's was deep blue and light purple on the front and back, while the face of his watch was the setting sun.  
Each of the Four Chosen placed their hand on their own charm and closed their eyes. The vision of them in their proper form floated before their eyes and in a few seconds, they opened their eyes to see the incredible sight.  
The light again appeared, and it crept toward them along the ground, leaving trails of fresh flowers. More remarkable was that the flowers were the colors of whatever light they sprang from. Hence, if the light was deep purple, the flowers from it were deep purple. Red light, red flowers, etc. Andy's light was a magnificent golden color, with orange thrown in, and Josh's was a deep blue with light purple swirls, coming in at the edges and spreading forth.  
It entered the bodies of the Four Chosen and filled them with such a feeling that they had never felt before. They felt so alive and so—so—right, for lack of a better word. Indeed, whenever that light filled their bodies forever after, they always felt as if they had finally fulfilled their destiny, or were in Heaven and still on this earth.  
Zara watched as the light crept up her body and seemed to seep into her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation for a while, but when it stopped a few moments later, she opened her eyes. The light had gone now, leaving the Four Chosen in their proper forms, and leaving everyone else with their jaw on the forest floor.  
"The Legend is true!" Brother Gilbert cried. "The Dragons shall be restored!" With this, he jumped up, flung his arms toward the heavens, leaned his head back, and began to spin and shout out of happiness.  
Bowen and Kara stood motionless, and with Brother Gilbert in his stupor of happiness, the only one—besides the Four Chosen—in her right mind (or as close as she could get) was Linda.  
Zara stared at the people before her and waited for their response. Brother Gilbert had given her a bit of hope, and now she waited for Bowen and Kara's response. She had forgotten about Linda, but then again she rarely thought about the nuisance of a woman. Zara didn't think her very nice and tired to not keep her thoughts on her. Besides, whenever she thought of Linda, Harry would come back to her mind and she would get sad.  
Zara certainly noticed her now.  
The middle-aged woman stood up with a look of pure hatred and mistrust on her face. She pointed her finger at them and said in a voice dripping with evil, "Black magic! The Devil is working within you!"  
Zara was frightened now, despite her awareness of her powers. Linda always had sort of frightened her, and now Zara took a small step back.  
"No, no my dear, good lady!" Brother Gilbert cried, still quite delirious from discovering that the Dragons would return, as you could probably tell from his calling Linda "my dear, good lady." "They are not working for the Devil! Quite the opposite! They are Zara and Qwen, the Divine Sisters who will return the Dragons!"  
Linda looked at him and started to back away from the group. "You've been placed under a spell!" She shot a mistrusting look at the Four Chosen. "Devil Spawn! All of you!" With that, she turned and ran into the woods, leaving everyone but Bowen and Kara staring after her.  
  
Gwen felt relieved. She had never liked Linda, and now she was glad she was gone. She hoped that once the dragons were back, they'd eat her.  
"Well?" Zara suddenly spoke. No one mentioned Linda. No one really cared. "Bowen? Kara? What do you have to say?"  
Kara was the first to respond. The edges of her mouth twitched until finally she was smiling. "I think that's incredible," she said. "I say we head immediately to Gandor!"  
Now everyone was staring at Bowen. He looked around, then back at the Four Chosen. He nodded. "I guess I have to believe it. Well, let's start out for Gandor after breakfast. It shouldn't be much of a walk."  
And so the boys went off to fish while Zara, Gwen and Kara were left with leftover rabbit from the previous night to heat up a little over the fire. Zara and Kara talked back and forth, but Gwen didn't pay attention. She was in more of a thinking mood than a talking mood.  
She was trying to think about the whole "Divine Sisters" thing. Did that meant that she and Zara really were sisters? The thought almost made her as angry as she was when Sir Eryk had beaten her up. But the more that her mind toyed with the thought, the less it disturbed her. That left her with the Qwen issue. She supposed it would be all right for people to call her Qwen—she rather liked the name.  
As I said, she was trying to think about all of that, but instead she couldn't get her mind off Josh. And she had no idea why. Every time she would start thinking of something important, up he would come and he wouldn't go away. She found herself thinking of what it would be like to kiss him, and she didn't want to be thinking of that, but whenever she tried to make him go away, he would just come back stronger than ever.  
Finally, the boys arrived with a few fish that they cooked and Qwen talked with Josh. At least it helped to keep him off her mind. Once the meal was finished, Qwen told everyone to call her just that, and everyone started talking about the road ahead.  
"Gil, is the journey hard?" Bowen asked.  
Brother Gilbert shook his head. "No. From what I understand, it's rather easy."  
"From what you understand?" Kara asked.  
Gilbert nodded. "I've only read of the journey in books, mind you."  
"That's great. Really helpful. Thanks," Andy said, rolling his eyes.  
"Well, we should head out now," Bowen said, standing up and gathering up their things. Not everyone had finished eating, but no one argued as they stood up and marched off toward the direction that Brother Gilbert pointed out.  
They traveled for a good part of the day, resting only when the sun was high in the sky and sent its sizzling soldier rays down to sear the travelers' backs. Qwen found her strength unwavering as they marched through forest upon field until they finally reached a river, an omen which Gilbert said meant "only a few more hours, at most."  
The sun was falling from the sky when they reached that river, and they sat down on its banks and decided to sleep. The fish from that morning had all been eaten, and what was left was now rotting where they left it back at the first forest. So, Bowen, Kara, Andy, and Zara took out the fishing poles and started to fish. Brother Gilbert decided to take a walk and write some of their remarkable journey.  
Qwen was starting to feel more alive with each passing second that the sun sank beneath the sky. Josh seemed antsy as well, and was heading off for the forest to take a stroll when Qwen ran up to him.  
"Can I walk with you?" she asked. He shrugged and they walked into the forest together.  
They walked with their heads turned to the west, watching what they could of the sunset through the curtain of leaves.  
"I wonder what happened to Linda," Josh wondered aloud.  
Qwen shrugged. "I don't really care. It would be funny if some giant rabbit eats her or something."  
Josh laughed. "Yeah, and then some squirrel fish-slaps Linda."  
For the next five minutes they planned out evil fates for Linda, caused by seemingly harmless animals.  
"And the field mice come and they nibble off her eyelashes, then they chew on her lips while moles bury her up to her knees in dirt. Then more rabbits come and they nibble on her elbows," Josh said with a passion.  
"Yeah, then ducks come and they bite her and quack at her and birds fly overhead and give her little, uh, presents while the squirrels hold her mouth open," Qwen giggled.  
"Then the moles pull her out of the dirt and the ducks nibble on her toes and then the mice bite her kneecaps. Then beetles come and they sit on her, because, you know, she's afraid of bugs," Josh said.  
Josh and Qwen laughed some more before Qwen said, "We're evil. I swear we are."  
"Maybe we are the Devil's Spawn," he joked.  
"Yeah, pretty soon I'm going to start growing horns," Qwen said, rolling her eyes.  
"And turning all red," Josh pointed out.  
Qwen nodded before suddenly scratching her arm. "Ow! My arm itches! Ow."  
"And that hurts?" Josh asked.  
"Yes, and I'm scratching it," Qwen said.  
They walked on for a few more minutes before they heard Bowen calling them back for dinner.  
"Let's go," Josh said, turning back.  
They walked back to the campsite and sat down to eat the fish.  
"I caught my first fish today!" Zara cried proudly.  
"Woo hoo!" Qwen said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.  
Zara looked putout. "Well it was fun for me," she said quietly.  
"Pass the ale, would you please?" Brother Gilbert asked.  
The meal passed by quickly and when it was over, they all sat around the fire and told stories and sang songs.  
Qwen was sitting between Josh and Zara, and Qwen decided to stretch. She stretched and when she did she made the noises that sounded like a baby, as she always did. Zara squealed with delight.  
"That's so cute!" Zara cried.  
Qwen gave her a look and continued to stretch. "No it's not," she said in that babyish voice.  
Zara beamed. "Yes it is!"  
Qwen picked up a fish bone and threw it at Zara. Zara moved away from the bone so quickly that she fell off the log. Qwen burst out laughing and so did everyone else. Brother Gilbert took out his pen and paper and declared, "I'm going to write this down!"  
Qwen threw more fish bones at him and cried, "No you're not!"  
"Yes, I am!" Brother Gilbert replied. He started to write and Qwen watched him carefully from her seat. Gilbert started to chuckle.  
"What? What are you writing?!" Qwen demanded.  
Gilbert shook his head. "Nothing!"  
"Tell me!" When Gilbert refused again, Qwen threw herself on him and grabbed his paper. She ran away from him with it and put it in her pocket. Gilbert picked himself back up, still chuckling and everyone continued to laugh and tell stories and joke until late in the night. Zara was falling asleep, and so was Andy. They leaned into each other and fell asleep.  
Soon, everyone retired to bed and Qwen went to sleep, pictures of Josh on her mind. 


	6. Love, Magic, and Evil

A/N: This is a long one, but a good one. I hope you like it!! Just FYI, the main characters in this story are based off real people. Zara is myself, Qwen is my friend who helped come up with the story and who I spent most of the summer with when I wrote this. Andy is my boyfriend (two years!), and Josh is my friend's ex-boyfriend. Random bit of information, heehee. Enjoy the story.  
  
Zara awoke the next morning, bright and early, as she usually did. She stretched as she sat up on the hard ground. The grass all around was sparkling with the newborn sun's tears of dew. She leaned down and smelled the fresh grass scent—something that she had never really taken the time to smell before.  
She stood up and started to roll up her sleeping cloth. She yawned and looked over to the east to the rising sun. And there was Andy's silhouette against the rising sun.  
Zara smiled and walked up behind him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he jumped. She beamed. "Good morning," she greeted.  
"You scared me," he said angrily.  
"And you torture me, so we're even," she replied, looking up at the sun, casting golden rays across the earth.  
They were silent for a few minutes, just taking in the feeling of the sun waking their souls up, and finally, Andy broke the silence.  
"I like you," he said tentatively.  
Zara hid a smile to herself before the turned her head to look at him. "And I like you."  
Andy was looking up at the sun and not at Zara. "No, I mean I like you like—"  
"I know what you mean. I like you like that too," Zara said, smiling.  
He looked at her. "Really?" She nodded. He smiled and reached down to take her hand. Together they watched the sun be born anew to the world.  
Behind them they heard the sounds of the others waking up. They nervously looked over their shoulders before looking back at each other.  
"Hey, you want to go for a walk or something?" Zara offered. Andy nodded and they walked quickly off to the woods, disappearing into the cool shadows of the trees.  
Zara immediately felt the absence of the sun on her skin, and her skin screamed over the loss. Indeed, while she had been standing there, her flesh had been soaking up the sun, breathing it in as if it were a life force. Zara hadn't noticed anything because all of her conscious thought was with her hand down there in Andy's hold. And she had noticed the slowing of her breath, but she put it off as just, well, whatever that was. But her breath hadn't slowed; it stopped.  
She had been living off the sun's rays.  
Now that she was in the forest, she could feel her lungs move within her with every intake of breath. She could see, now, that Andy's chest was moving faster too. Rather, moving at all, for he too had been living off the newborn rays of the sun.  
They walked further into the forest, so that they had no chance of being heard or seen. They were both feeling odd, and though they were still holding hands, it wasn't that that caused them to feel so strange.  
"Do you—?" Zara began.  
"Feel as weird as I do?" Andy finished.  
Zara nodded. "You too, huh?" she asked. He nodded. "What do you think it was?" she asked. He shrugged.  
Presently they came out into a small—very small—clearing. The sun again reached their skin, and Zara could again feel the penetratingly warm sensation. This time, she noted her breath stopping.  
Her eyes grew wide as she reached her other shaky hand up to her nose and mouth to make sure that she wasn't breathing. She looked over at Andy and he had the same expression that Zara knew she must be having.  
"Are you breathing?" Zara asked. Her voice came out quiet and subdued—she had meant for it to come out as a whisper, but there wasn't anything breathy about it. It was just smooth, as if it took no breath to say.  
He shook his head. "You?" She shook her head.  
"What do you think this means?" she asked.  
Andy looked up at the sky and the rising sun. "Maybe because we get our powers from the sun, the sun serves as some sort of a life force for us, whenever we can get in its rays."  
Zara nodded. "That makes sense. I am certainly not breathing right now. And I also feel so. . .so. . .alive. And so warm. I can feel the sun seeping into me."  
Andy stared at her for a few seconds, a smile playing at the edges of his eyes before he shook his head and looked down at the ground. "Yeah, me too," he said quietly.  
Zara felt something take hold of her body and she suddenly lightly squeezed Andy's hand. He looked back up at her and they shared a smile. Zara felt her heart beating very, very slowly. Andy reached a hand forward and it finally found its way to her face.  
She felt herself melt away completely into that hand. Her eyes closed slightly and her head tilted into it before the feeling of his eyes seeping into her face snapped her out of her little stupor. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into his eyes, moving back and forth across her face.  
His eyes scanned her face, back and forth. Zara was no longer aware of anything else—just his hand in hers and on her face. His scan of her face carried his eyes lower until they finally settled on her lips. She could do nothing but stare at his eyes.  
His face leaned ever so closer to hers and she took a small step forward. Andy was a good deal taller than her—six inches, at least—and she had to go up on her tiptoes to reach his face.  
Her heart was still beating very, very slowly, so slow now that every beat counted out the seconds with a huge, wrenching thud. Her butterflies that were in her stomach had moved up now to her heart.  
Their lips inched excruciatingly slowly closer and closer until finally they met.  
The kiss was slow, and tender, and in the history of kisses it went down after Princess Buttercup and Westley's.  
As soon as their lips met, Zara's heart stopped all together and then jumped so quickly and started beating so fast that it almost startled Zara. But after that, she noticed nothing else.  
Andy slid his arms around her waist and her arms found their way around his neck. Her fingers twisted into his hair and they stayed in that way for, well, they really had no knowledge of time. All they knew was that all too soon, the kiss ended and they were staring at one another.  
Slowly, a smile spread across both of their lips.  
"Zara! Andy! Breakfast!" resounded Brother Gilbert's jolly voice.  
Wrenched back into reality, Zara found that the sun playing on the sweet green grass, and the most beautiful flowers she'd ever seen, and the trees of the deepest green ever, and the sun casting so many gorgeous colors across the sky was no longer as beautiful as it had been a moment ago. The moment before their lips had met.  
But soon after Andy and Zara had returned, still holding hands and getting odd, bemused looks, and Zara had settled down to eat her breakfast—fish from the previous night, kept cold in a small cloth bag in the river—the grass, flowers, trees, and most of all the sun had regained their sense of beauty and her heart soared, for the second time that day.  
  
Qwen grumpily and quietly ate her fish. She hated fish, but no one seemed to ask her what she thought about the matter. She stared across the fire warming the cool morning air at Andy and Zara, who seemed to be sitting much closer together than last night. So close, in fact, that Qwen could see no trace of the log they were sitting on between them. There was also this knowing glow in both of their eyes.  
That irritated her.  
Beside her, Josh ate slowly and tiredly. She was sure he felt the same way she did—slow and tired, and not just because they stayed up so long last night. She felt—drained, somehow. She looked up at the rising sun and she was smacked with realization. Of course that was why.  
She shut her eyes tight and clenched her teeth and tried to steel herself against the relentless shimmers of sunlight. She found that the more she fought, the more tired she got. She relaxed and unclenched her jaw and opened her eyes. She tried to just get used to it, not resist, and she found that worked ever so much better.  
In a few seconds, she was feeling better. She looked over at Josh, who was tense and eating slowly. She lightly elbowed him to get his attention. He looked over at her and cocked an eyebrow, his mouth full of food.  
"You feel it, don't you?" she asked. When he didn't even move except to chew she elaborated. "The sun draining your energy." His eyes grew wide momentarily then went back to their normal size. He nodded. "Just relax; don't fight it. You'll get used to it and feel better."  
He relaxed, and his eyes lazily closed. In a few seconds he opened his eyes, and he looked much better. He smiled at Qwen and said in a voice that sent shivers down her spine, "Thanks."  
Qwen felt her heart swell, but she couldn't bring herself to meet her eyes. She smiled embarrassedly and looked down at the ground.  
A few minutes later, they had all packed up their stuff and were heading off to figure a way to cross the river.  
The river wasn't very fast moving, and they could easily wade across it, but Zara and Kara didn't like that idea. So, last night, Bowen had searched down the river a little way and found a long log crossing the river. That is what the little group of travelers was crossing the river on now.  
In a few minutes they had reached the other side and they marched on. The sun above beat on Qwen's back and she tried to walk in the shade. She noticed that Zara and Andy avoided the shade at every possible chance they got. Luckily for Qwen, Josh also tried to avoid the sun, and the fact that the path they were walking on was pretty much out in the open, with trees framing it, there were only a few places one could go for shade. Often, he ended up right with her.  
They talked about anything and everything for that journey, and Qwen found herself becoming quite relaxed around Josh. He was becoming more part of her than anyone had been in her whole life—even Harry, whom she had gotten somewhat close to.  
Finally, the trees at the edge of the clearing eventually faded away, and the only trees visible—besides the ones behind them—were the trees they could see quickly approaching them. Indeed, the trip had lasted only a few hours, and now they were getting excited as to what they would find in this wood.  
Finally, they reached the borders of the forest. Qwen could feel—something, coming out of the trees, the ground itself. She could see into the forest, and what she saw simply took her breath away.  
The light inside was a delicious light green color, because the many leaves stopped the sun. Here and there, bits of dappled sunshine shone on the forest floor in sweet patterns, giving it a wonderful, magical fairy tale feel.  
And what Qwen could feel was becoming slowly more distinct. Power. That's the only way she could describe it. It was like a sweet breeze blowing, but it wasn't on her face—it was inside her mind. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes and inhaled, and what she smelled was the most delicious scent of trees, flowers, and fruits that she had ever smelled.  
It appeared that Qwen, Josh, Andy, and Zara were the only ones affected by the Forest of Gandor, for they were the only ones who stood staring into the forest. Everyone else was just trying to make sure that was the right forest.  
"Qwen, do you think this is the right place?" Bowen asked, turning on her. "Hello?" he asked, waving a hand in front of her face. "Hello! Qwen?"  
Qwen shook her head, but the magic of the forest still ebbed at her. "Yeah?" she said dreamily.  
"Is this the right place?" Bowen asked slowly.  
Qwen nodded. "Oh, yes. "  
"How do you know?" Bowen pried. Brother Gilbert came forward and placed a hand on Bowen's shoulder.  
"Look at her, Bowen. Her and the rest of the children," he ordered in a small voice. Bowen did and he noticed that they all had the same expression.  
"What does it mean?" he asked Gilbert.  
"That's how we can know, Bowen. The forest is magic, but only they can feel it."  
Bowen looked a few seconds more at Gilbert before looking again at the children. Then he turned and started to walk into the forest. Kara and Gilbert followed.  
The Four Chosen stood staring a while longer, until suddenly they snapped out of it. It was almost as if Gandor had shaken them off of his magic power of which they had been drinking and commanded them into the forest.  
They all entered the forest together, Zara and Qwen in the middle, Andy and Josh following a half a step behind, Andy by Zara, Josh by Qwen. Once they were inside, they quickly caught up with Bowen, Kara, and Gilbert, and they soon walked ahead of them.  
Once they began to walk in front of the other three, that's when Kara noticed something. "Look," she said to Bowen. She pointed to the trees above the Four Chosen. The leaves spread and opened so that the sunlight flowed on Zara and Andy. Above Josh and Qwen, the leaves quickly blotted out the sunlight, casting them in welcome shadow.  
They walked for what seemed like hours but was only really an hour or so. The Four Chosen were leading the group, though they really had no idea where they were going. They were just following their feet, which seemed to know where they were going.  
Soon, everyone knew where they were.  
The came out of the thick forest into a place with a huge, old looking tree in the center of about a six-foot wide circular clearing. But despite the distance between the tree and the forest, it was still shaded over as if there were still trees to shade in the clearing. When Qwen looked up, she could see why.  
The branches of the tree in the center of the clearing were huge and twisted, but they spread completely over the six-foot clearing. The trunk of the tree was huge, and had twisted pieces of wood going all the way around it and up the trunk.  
"Wow," Kara breathed. By now, the magic of the Forest had gotten to them. The Four Chosen had by now gotten used to the feel of the magic, and they walked forward to the tree and spread out. They got up close to it and examined the old bark.  
"Hey, can you see this?" Zara asked.  
None of them replied, but they all could see it. Imbedded in the bark of the tree was a very faint "N," "S," "E," and "W." They all moved around the tree until they were standing before the right letter. They stepped up closer to the tree and placed their hands on the letter.  
Qwen suddenly felt a rush of power surge through her. Her eyes involuntarily closed and soon she felt her lips moving, and then she felt a name on her lips, but she said it so quietly that she couldn't hear what she said.  
Once the name had been said, Qwen's eyes opened and she could stare at the trunk of the tree. Above the "N" the bark was swirling, and it suddenly settled on the shape of a dragon with the same pattern that was on Qwen's shield and her dress.  
Once the dragon's shape had settled, a deep purple light shone on the outline of it and suddenly the light shot out of the tree. It startled Qwen so much that she stumbled backward and landed on her butt. She could see that Andy and Josh had done the same.  
The light was forming a big dragon. The light grew and spread out to fill in the form and then, sparkles of white light appeared and the light turned into a real dragon.  
It was a huge and purple dragon that appeared before her. It had black snaking up its legs, tail, and muzzle, and on its back were white spots that sparkled and shone like jewels. He had huge, glittering purple wings with the same black tendrils winding their way around them. Its eyes were deep, deep purple, and they appeared kind. It had huge claws and his tail had sharp looking spikes on it. It smiled down on Qwen, who surprisingly didn't feel afraid.  
"Hello, Qwen," it said in a deep, soothing voice. It was a guy. "My name is Mooncry."  
"M-Mooncry?" Qwen said in a tentative voice.  
Mooncry laughed, a sweet, magical sound and leaned down to Qwen. He gently picked her up in his mouth and dropped her on his back. She landed squarely between his wings, which were surprisingly soft.  
She climbed up onto his neck and called up to his ear. "Nice to meet you," she said.  
Mooncry nodded and set her back down on the ground. "Feel better now?" he asked, still rather nice.  
Qwen nodded, but now she was curious about the other dragons. Before she got a look at Andy and Josh's, a huge red dragon with patterns of orange fire all over it soared overhead, then circled down and quickly landed in the space between Andy and Qwen.  
"Hi!" Zara called down to Qwen when she landed. "Meet Sunfire!" she called.  
Sunfire had red, glowing eyes and its wings looked like fire. Its tail, however, wasn't spiked.  
"Hi, Qwen!" Sunfire called. Sunfire was a girl.  
"This bites!" came Josh's voice. He and Andy had come around the sides of the tree to look at Mooncry and Sunfire. "That's not fair! You guys get the big dragons!" he called again.  
"All we get are these little midget dragons," Andy said, gesturing with his head to something behind them. They moved and behind the two Protectors, Qwen could see a small, golden dragon with a faint orange pattern on it. It was only about as big as a terrier, and it had shining orange eyes. Its wings were half the size of its body, and it hovered in the air, looked confusedly from Andy to Zara and Qwen.  
Next to the yellow one was a deep blue dragon of about the same size, with purple splaying up from its feet and tail. It had glowing blue eyes and spread far out on its small body were the same sparkling jewels that were on Mooncry, only Mooncry had much, much more. This one sat on the ground, its light purple and blue wings tucked into its back. It stared contentedly at Qwen.  
"What—I mean, who are they?" Zara asked softly. Josh and Andy sent her a look at "What."  
"These are our 'dragons'," Josh said with a disgusted look on his face.  
"If you can call them dragons," Andy added.  
"We are very good fighters!" the orange one cried. "Just because we're small doesn't mean a thing."  
"Yeah," the purple one piped. They both had somewhat high voices, and they sounded a lot like kindergarteners so it was hard to tell if they were boys or girls. "You'll see. We're good dragons."  
"What are your names?" Zara asked.  
The orange one landed, then bowed deeply. "Eastflame, Princess Zara."  
The purple one bowed its head and replied, "Westwail, Highness."  
Qwen still couldn't tell if they were boys or girls. "Um, excuse me?" The two dragons turned and looked inquisitively at Qwen. "Are you boys or girls?" she asked.  
Westwail and Eastflame exchanged bemused glances, then faced Qwen again. Eastflame bowed low again. "We are both boys, Princess Qwen."  
"I'm not a princess," Qwen started to say when Zara cut her off. It seemed that Zara was beginning to know when Qwen was going to protest something that didn't really matter.  
"It's nice to meet you," Zara said. She started to slide of Sunfire, when Sunfire reached up a hand and picked her up and set her down. She smiled up at her dragon. "Thanks, Sunfire." Sunfire smiled warmly down on Zara.  
That was when everyone remembered Bowen, Kara, and Brother Gilbert.  
They slowly turned to the place they had entered from to see that Bowen, Kara, and Brother Gilbert were staring wide-eyed at—nothing. Their eyes were fixed in space and their mouths hung open a little.  
"Bowen?" Andy asked, chuckling softly though he was still obviously mad at his dragon.  
No one responded. Eastflame and Westwail flew swiftly over to the three stupefied adults. That was one thing to say about the smallest dragons: they were much faster than Mooncry and Sunfire—or any other dragon for that matter—could hope to be.  
They hovered before their faces and seemed to be examining Bowen, Kara, and Gilbert. The small dragons exchanged a look before they spun around and smacked their spike-less tails against the humans' faces.  
"Hey! What are you doing?!" the Four Chosen began to call, but the tail slap seemed to have knocked some sense into them, for they shook their heads and seemingly came around.  
"That was amazing!" Bowen cried.  
After that, everyone got acquainted with the dragons and after that they set up camp somewhere else in the forest—they felt that the tree was too magical a place to set up camp in—and they went and prepared dinner.

* * *

Meanwhile, King Oswald and Queen Penelope were furious with anger. They had thought that the rebels Bowen, Kara, Gwen, and a monk named Gilbert had kidnapped their child and were holding her hostage. But now, they discovered from a woman named Linda that claimed to have been traveling with them that their daughter was practicing witchcraft with that rat Gwen.  
"Find them!" King Oswald roared.  
Sir Eryk was talking with the Linda woman. He grew pale, then turned to face his rulers. He bowed slightly. "Highnesses," he began, "the woman has told me that Princess Zara and the peasant Gwen are claiming to be Zara and Qwen, the mystical princesses who are supposed to bring back the dragons—and an end to your reign."  
"I know who they are!" King Oswald fumed. He stopped and looked at his most trusted knight. "You don't really think that they are, do you?" he asked.  
Sir Eryk only shrugged. "From what the woman has said about seeing them transform, and the two boys—" here Sir Eryk gritted his teeth, for one of those boys had been his squire—"traveling with them having powers as well, it seems highly likely that they are Zara and Qwen."  
King Oswald straightened. "Then they must be destroyed, daughter of mine or no daughter of mine. I will not lose my rightful throne for some dragon hugging magicians!"  
Queen Penelope only paled, but she didn't protest at her husband's wishes, for she thought he was right. "Sir Eryk," she said slowly. "Sir Eryk, these princesses are very powerful and they have dragons—how do you plan to fight them?" she asked. Sir Eryk stared blankly for a while. Apparently he hadn't thought of that. "I see. Go to the highest tower in the castle. There is some old magic up there that can give you tremendous power, enough to defeat the princesses, maybe even more."  
Sir Eryk smiled to himself. This was right up his alley. He turned to his men. "Let the woman go," he paused and smiled cruelly to himself, "in the woods. Let's hope she's sane enough to find her own food." Then he turned and made his way to the stairs to the tower.


	7. The Men and Sunfire to the Front

A/N: And after that huge long one, here's a short one for you. Please, let me know if anything needs to be italicized, or I miss some of those darned ellipses that ffn doesn't like. Thanks! --RR

The next morning, the group all piled either on Sunfire or Mooncry's back and started the journey back. As they flew hour by hour, they suddenly realized just how many miles they had traveled. But, after a few hours of flying, they arrived at the outskirts of the forest surrounding the village. They landed far enough away from the village to not be seen, and as they walked they planned.  
"So what exactly are we supposed to do?" Qwen asked as they walked.  
Zara was walking in between Sunfire and Andy, his arm around her waist. He had ridden behind her on Sunfire the whole journey meaning that he had to put his arms around her waist the whole trip, and her heart was flying higher than Sunfire had carried them.  
"Well, you're supposed to take over the rule of your people, which means the village you came from," Mooncry said.  
"My parents' village," Zara said softly. No one said anything for a few moments.  
"How are we supposed to do that?" Bowen asked finally.  
"It isn't specified, but there is talk of an evil power that you must conquer," Eastflame said.  
"Sir Eryk," all the humans said at once.  
"Hey, is anyone else tired?" Kara asked. Everyone was tired and they decided to rest for a while. They all sat down on something (Zara and Qwen on their dragons, with Andy and Josh with them, of course) and proceeded to plan out the charge.  
"We'll need to train the villagers," Bowen said. Zara nodded.  
"You, Kara, and Brother Gilbert will go into town tomorrow and start to train the villagers."  
"What about you and Qwen?" Gilbert asked.  
"We can't show our faces because of that little scene of magic back at the bar," Zara stated. Then she looked down at her lap. "Besides, there're probably posters of me everywhere."  
"And them too!" Qwen cried. "Your parents are probably so mad that they must have posters of all of us up!"  
Zara's head flew up. "That's right! How could I have overlooked that?" She shook her head. "What are we going to do now?"  
"Um, excuse me?" Westwail asked, coming up. Zara fondly looked down on him, smiling softly. Westwail and Eastflame were quickly becoming some of Zara's best friends. They were so shy and quiet it was cute.  
"Eastflame and I may be able to help," he said.  
"How?" Josh asked. Andy and Josh still were upset that their dragons were so small, but they had started to tolerate them.  
"Well," Eastflame said, hopping off of where he was sitting in Zara's lap and using his wings to let him land softly on the ground by Westwail, "we have magic," he said simply.  
"And?" Qwen asked. She was still unimpressed by the little dragons.  
"They have magic and we don't," Mooncry said. Everyone stared at him. "That's why they're so small; they don't need to be big to fight. They've got magic."  
Zara narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, magic?" she asked.  
Eastflame flew over to Bowen, seemed to regard him for a second, then clapped his two front paws together. Orange smoke popped up and clouded over Bowen's head for a few seconds before it cleared and left—someone.  
"Bowen? Bowen, is that you?" Kara asked, in shock.  
The man had black hair, shiny as coals, and his eyes glowed hazel. His face was different too, younger, more rugged. The man shrugged. "What?" Even his voice was different, the slightest bit lighter and a little edgier.  
"That is you, isn't it, Bowen?" Brother Gilbert asked, coming up a little closer.  
The man nodded. "Yeah, it's me. What's the matter with you people?" Bowen asked.  
Then Eastflame produced a small pond on the ground. Bowen looked at us all like we were crazy before he leaned down to look at himself in the water. He took once glance, shrieked, and backed away.  
"That's not me!" he cried.  
Eastflame nodded. "Of course not. I've altered your features. Now no one will recognize you."  
Eastflame and Westwail proceeded to do this for all of the people present. Kara got blonde hair and chestnut brown eyes. Her voice went up a few notches, as well. Brother Gilbert became a little bit younger, got a lot of red hair and freckles, and blue eyes. His voice went down a little.  
"Amazing!" he cried when he saw himself.  
Eastflame and Westwail went to work on Andy and Josh. Andy came out having black hair and the deepest blue eyes that Zara had ever seen. He looked totally different, even though it wasn't much of a change. His voice also went down a little, but not so much that it seemed odd for a fourteen-year-old. And something was added to his voice—an English accent.  
Andy seemed to have caught Zara's look after he had examined himself in the mirror pool and smiled at her. He stepped up to her and slid his arms around her waist.  
"I don't look that bad, now do I?" he asked with a sly grin on his face.  
All Zara could do was stare. He looked completely different—but a good different. No, a great different. Andy reached up and closed Zara's jaw that she hadn't noticed drop open.  
Now as Andy's hand traveled to play in the hair around Zara's shoulders, Zara's lips spread into a smile and she put her hands on his shoulder to help steady her as she went up on her toes to kiss him. Their lips pressed together tenderly and he held her tight to his form.  
"Aw, isn't that romantic?" Qwen said sarcastically. Zara and Andy broke the kiss, and Zara felt her face flush. She made a small movement to step away from him, but he just held her tighter to him.  
"Shut up, Qwen," Andy said, an annoyed look on his face.  
Qwen smirked. "Embarrassed?"  
"No," Andy replied, getting angry. "Annoyed."  
Zara sensed the oncoming quarrel and looked over at Qwen. "Why don't you go and see what Eastflame is doing to Josh?" she said. Qwen looked at her and Zara raised her eyebrows, trying to say "Do it now if you don't want to start a fight with Andy!" Qwen seemed to have gotten the message and she walked away.  
_Whew,_ Zara thought to herself. _That was close. Now to get back to what I was doing. . ._  
Zara put her hands on Andy's face and directed it to look directly into hers. "I believe we were busy?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.  
He smiled and they leaned up to kiss again.  
  
Qwen walked away from the two lovesick puppies with a stinging heart. She wasn't sure what got her madder: Zara sending her away, Zara and Andy being so darn lovey-dovey, or the fact that she and Josh hadn't gotten so lovey-dovey, or even lovey at all.  
She approached Eastflame and Josh, just as the orange smoke was clearing from Josh's face. Her jaw dropped when she saw him.  
All the way from reddish brown hair to the cutest black eyes, Josh was hot.  
"What do you think?" Josh asked. Qwen felt her heart jump. A Scottish accent!  
She tried to keep her composure. "Um, good. You could hardly tell you were. . .you."  
Josh went to examine himself. He came back smiling. "You're right!" He stepped up somewhat close to Qwen and Qwen found her heart beating so fast that she was afraid it would beat itself right of her chest.  
Josh appeared to grow rather nervous. He coughed a little, then kicked his foot around in the dirt. Qwen looked at him like he was going nuts, because she thought he was. Then he squeezed his eyes shut tight and said in a rush, "I like you."  
Although he said it so fast that it sounded like "I lick you."  
Qwen's eyes grew wide and she stared at him, getting ready to slug him. "You what?!" she demanded.  
"I—I like you," he stammered out, this time slower, slow enough for Qwen to realize that he wasn't saying "lick."  
She stared at him now. "You do?" He nodded. "I, um, I like you too."  
Josh looked up at her, smiling brightly. "You do?"  
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I do." An awkward moment passed between them. Josh started to say something, but Brother Gilbert cut him off.  
"What about Zara and Qwen then?" he asked. "Shouldn't they also be disguised?"  
Eastflame shook his orange head. "My magic cannot touch them," he said sadly.  
Bowen stepped forward. "Hey! Hey you two!" He was yelling at Zara and Andy, who were still kissing. He snapped his fingers by their faces and they stopped kissing to look at him.  
"Yes?" Zara asked.  
Bowen shook his head and smiled. "It would be nice if you paid attention. I mean, we are planning your invasion." He tried to sound annoyed and angry, but his dancing eyes gave him away.  
Zara smiled and they moved apart a little, Andy only keeping one arm around her waist.  
Qwen sighed and rolled her eyes. They were really starting to annoy her.  
Suddenly, from out of the woods sprang this woman. Her hair and eyes were wild. She had leaves and twigs stuck all over her head, and her face and arms were smudged with dirt. Everyone backed away from her, seeing that she was crazed.  
"Who is that?" Zara asked. No one knew who she was, but Qwen recognized her.  
"Hello, Linda," she said.  
Linda turned her mad eyes on Qwen, then they fell on Zara. She pointed a shaky finger at the two of them and started to yell, "Black magic! Devil's spawn! Sir Eryk will destroy you!"  
Now everyone was paying attention. "What about Sir Eryk?" Bowen asked softly, trying not to startle her.  
Linda turned to him, and when she didn't recognize him she smirked. "He's getting magic power. It's the Queen's and he's going to be able to defeat the princesses." She looked back over at Zara and Qwen and spat at them "Witches! Evil! You will die!"  
Bowen tried again to talk to her. "Are they going to kill the princesses?" he asked.  
Linda smiled again and nodded. "They must be destroyed, daughter of mine or no daughter of mine!" She cackled and looked back at Bowen. "King said so. They're going to die."  
Bowen nodded and looked over at everyone. "Well, that was helpful."  
She pointed at the Princesses again. "Devil's Spawn! Witches! Evil runs through you!" she cried.  
"Um, no," Sunfire said haughtily. "They're good, unlike you."  
Eastflame and Westwail snorted, flame coming out of their nostrils as they did so. But Linda did not shut up; she continued to call the Princesses witches and such.  
"The Devil runs through you! You will be punished!"  
Mooncry rolled his eyes. "Oh, do shut up," he said, annoyed.  
"Witches! Evil, black magic witches! Devil's spaw—" Linda started to say, but Mooncry bent down and clamped his jaws down on the mad woman. He lifted his head up, tossed her up in the air a bit, and then caught her again in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed.  
"That was disgusting," Qwen said. "But cool."  
"At least now we know what we're up against," Bowen said.  
"Yeah, I feel so much better now that Linda has told us that, and is now being digested," Kara snorted with a roll of her eyes.  
Andy leveled his eyes with Kara's. "Me too," he said seriously.  
Everyone burst out laughing, then eventually slowly stopped because a small feeling of guilt crept in at the sides of their minds. Mean and crazy or no, Linda was a person. A bad person, but still.  
They continued to prepare to go out to the city. Zara and Qwen walked with them until Bowen had to stop them.  
"Don't want to go too close that someone will see you," he warned.  
  
Zara nodded, her thoughts elsewhere.  
Andy held her chin and tilted it so that she looked up at him. "Are you okay?"  
Zara smiled and nodded, since he had let go of her chin. "I'm fine."  
He smiled. "No you're not."  
"Yes, I am," she argued back.  
"I know when you're lying. I can read your mind. I know you better than you do," he said. "Now tell me what's wrong."  
Zara shook her head. "No."  
He grabbed her gently around the waist and leaned down to give her the softest, most full of love kiss that she had ever felt before. It was so incredible that she couldn't even react. When it was done he stepped back.  
"Tell me."  
Zara whined softly. "That wasn't fair," she pouted. Andy raised an eyebrow and Zara sighed. "I'm worried that someone will find out it's you and—and—you won't come back."  
Andy smiled. "Of course I'll come back!" Then he added, in a more serious tone, "I promise you I'll come back."  
Zara looked up to meet his eyes and she nodded. "Just don't break that promise, okay?"  
He smiled and leaned down to kiss her again, only this time it was a consoling and good-bye kiss instead of one full of love. As he smiled over his shoulder and walked away with the others, Zara wondered if it was their last.


	8. Into the Fray

A/N: Two more chapters after this! Almost there!  
  
Half an hour later found Qwen and Zara sitting in the woods. Qwen had a bad feeling deep down in her bones, and from the look on Zara's face, she did too. Still, she had to be sure.  
"Zara, what gives? You okay?" Qwen asked the girl stroking Eastflame.  
Zara looked up and before Zara could cover it up, Qwen could see immense worry and sadness deep in her eyes. She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, fine."  
Qwen sighed. "Do you have a bad feeling about this, too?" Qwen asked.  
Zara looked up at her. "You too?" Qwen nodded. Now all that Zara had been hiding in her eyes flew to the surface—in the form of tears. "I'm just so scared, Qwen!" She collapsed to the ground and began to sob, Eastflame and Westwail coming up to console her. Sunfire and Mooncry had gone hunting; their stomachs were growling so loud that the people in the village probably could hear.  
Qwen went over to Zara and sat down beside her. She put a hand on her shoulder. "Scared of what?" she asked gently.  
"That Andy won't come back," she moaned.  
Qwen felt that annoyance come back, but she squashed it so that she could continue to console Zara. "Why do you think that?"  
Here Zara looked off to some far off place and seemed to become uncomfortable. "Does it matter? I just think that something's going to happen to him. He's going to be discovered, and—and—" here she started to sob again.  
Qwen shook her shoulder slightly. "Hey, come on, now, you can tell me. Why do you think that?" Before Zara could reply, Qwen was suddenly flying through a white space, images and visions flying by her face. She stopped suddenly, and landed in the forest.  
She was facing Zara and Zara was sharpening Bowen's sword. Suddenly she stopped and stared straight ahead, her eyes blank. Qwen shot forward and as she flew, she noticed that she was heading straight for Zara's eyes.  
Blue was all around her, and she finally landed in a white expanse. She could see words floating around all around her.  
_I'm in Zara's mind!_ she thought to herself. She turned to face the direction that Zara was looking and she gasped, despite of herself.  
It showed all of the people who had gone to the village being thrown into a dungeon by—  
Sir Eryk.  
He smirked and went up to Andy. He yanked him up by the scruff on his collar and held him up to his eye level. "You were my squire." Then he hit Andy so hard with his other hand that Andy flew back against the wall of the cell. He landed with a loud thud and lay in a quiet heap.  
Josh stepped forward. "You can't do this to us! The Princesses will win!" he cried. Sir Eryk lobbed one off on Josh too, and Josh went sailing back to land next to Andy.  
"Your Princesses are never going to win!" Sir Eryk cried bitterly before he left he cell, slamming the door behind him.  
The vision disappeared, and Qwen was quickly traveling out of Zara's mind. She landed with a thud back in her own body. She could see that Zara and the dragons hadn't noticed a thing, and Zara was shaking her head and sobbing.  
"You wouldn't believe me," she was sobbing. Qwen realized that the whole thing had taken only seconds, and now she was back where she was, and Zara was replying to Qwen's question.  
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Qwen said before she repeated what she had seen. Zara stared at her with wide, sad, tear filled eyes.  
"How did you know that?" Zara asked, mystified.  
Qwen shook her head. "Doesn't matter. All that matters is that this might be happening. Do you want to go and see if we can find them?" she asked, because truth be told, she had a feeling in her that this was happening. And the thought of Josh getting his butt kicked by Sir Eryk was making her throat close up.  
Zara looked back down at the ground before she abruptly stood up. She wiped at her face and eyes before she turned to look at Qwen. Qwen noticed the change in her immediately. Her body was set, shoulders back, her feet firmly on the ground. Her eyes were steady, and held no clue of the tears that had been falling from them, save for a bit of pink puffiness around the edges.  
"Let's go," she said with an edge in her voice.  
Just then, Sunfire and Mooncry appeared, walking out of the forest.  
"We'd thought you'd never get around to it!" Sunfire cried. "Let's go get these suckers!"  
Zara and Qwen smiled, then transformed. Their sword and shield showed up with their outfits, Zara's sword in a sheath on a belt around her waist. They climbed up on the backs of their dragons and looked down to Eastflame and Westwail.  
"You coming?" Qwen asked.  
They nodded. "Not yet," Westwail said. "But soon."  
Qwen and Zara exchanged a look that said "Whatever, freaks" before they instructed their dragons to fly.  
The wind blew in Qwen's face, and Mooncry moved gracefully beneath her. She would've been happy, if it weren't for her feeling of impending doom in her stomach. As they rode, they could see the castle's towers looming up into view.  
"That's the castle," Zara yelled over to Qwen. "They're holding them in the tower to the far east."  
"How do you know?" Qwen called back.  
"Because that's where they'd keep traitors and I know the dungeons of that tower—they look like the ones in the vision." Qwen shot Zara a strange look and Zara shrugged. "I liked to camp out in the dungeons when I was little. Never knew why."  
They flew down lower and lower.  
"Um, how are we going to get to the tower?" Qwen asked.  
"We can land on the roof of the castle, then go down to the tower," Zara replied.  
"What if we come up against their soldiers?" Qwen asked.  
Zara looked over at her and Qwen could see that she didn't have the answers to that. Qwen's mind started to come up with an idea. "Zara! Why don't I go to the village and gather up the villagers, so that we have an army, and you can go in and save Andy and Josh?" Qwen proposed.  
"Already done!" came two familiar voices beside them. They looked over their shoulders to see Eastflame and Westwail, pointing down to the ground below. Zara and Qwen looked down to see a huge mob of villagers, charging the castle.  
Eastflame dipped back down to help the villagers and before Westwail left he gave a small salute and smiled before he shot back down to the earth like a rocket.  
Zara and Qwen only shared a smile before they landed on the roof of the castle.  
  
Zara climbed off Sunfire to see an oncoming rush of soldiers from the tower holding the prisoners, and from the opposite tower.  
"Oh, crap," Qwen said and then the soldiers were on them.  
Zara wielded her blade with mastery. Two men came, grabbed her arms and held her steady for a man to come and slice her open with her own sword. Zara pushed off with her feet and brought her foot up under the man's chin. As she flipped, she wrenched her arms free and she hit the men who held her in their chins. When she landed, all three men were on the ground.  
As she hefted her sword once again, she said to herself, "I've never been able to do that before." She punched another man and kicked one in the face before she whirled and got another with her sword. She stood up and flexed her hand. "I didn't even hurt my hand!"  
Qwen was blocking left and right with her shield, delivering blows and kicks to soldiers left and right.  
_I wish that magic would show up soon,_ she thought bitterly to herself.  
_Just point your finger,_ came Draco's voice in her head.  
_Draco?_ she asked.  
_Do it!_ Draco replied and then he was gone.  
Qwen pointed her finger at a man charging at her, and out from her charm forming the eye of Mooncry on her chest flew a stream of purple and black magic. The man convulsed and fell to the ground. One man reached down to help him and the magic got him too. They both fell in a heap on the ground. Qwen looked at her finger.  
"Cool," she murmured.  
Suddenly all of the soldiers backed off, cowering and running. Sunfire and Mooncry had started to breathe fire, and these knights hadn't seen a dragon in a while. None of the dragon hunters were there this time.  
And the dragons scared the amour off of them.  
"Go," Mooncry called over his shoulder.  
"Yeah, we'll take care of them!" Sunfire called, a smile in her voice.  
Zara hurried up to the eastern tower, Qwen close behind. "The door should be here," Zara said to herself before they came upon a wooden door with a black handle. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn't open.  
"It's locked!" Qwen moaned. "Can you chop it open with your sword?" Qwen asked.  
Zara smiled. "I can do better than that. Back up." Qwen followed Zara's order and Zara positioned herself in front of the door. She handed her sword to Qwen, then shook her head. "Never mind." She sheathed it and then looked back at Qwen. "I hope there's no one behind the door."  
She brought her foot up then kicked against the door. It shattered into a million splinters, any trace of a door being in that doorway now spread all over the floor. As the girls cautiously stepped in, they found that there was someone behind the door. Zara shrugged and smiled. "Oops?" she said innocently.

* * *

They hurried down the passageways, Qwen behind Zara. Zara was following the twisted, dark passageways that were familiar in her distant memory. They ran past cell after cell, until she finally saw Bowen's hands, leaning out of the bars.  
They ran up to the door to see Bowen leaning against the doors. He looked up when he heard their footsteps, thinking they were more guards. He smiled when he saw them.  
"Zara! Qwen! How did you know we were here?" he asked.  
Qwen shrugged. "Lucky guess." Then she turned to Zara. "You think you can open it?" she asked.  
Zara shrugged. "I can try. Move away from the doors," she warned the cell. Then she brought her foot up and kicked—and fell. "Ow," she moaned from the floor. She hopped carefully back up on her feet. "That hurt."  
"You can't open it?" Qwen asked.  
Zara shook her head. "We need the key."  
Zara began to wonder if the man she had knocked out would have a key, then Qwen stepped up to the door. She pointed her finger at the keyhole and purple light came out and snaked its way into the lock. A click was heard and the door slid open.  
"Qwen! You did it!" Zara cried, hugging Qwen from behind. Qwen shrugged her off.  
"Get off me!" she yelled.  
Bowen, Kara, and Brother Gilbert hurried out of the cell. Zara's eyes ventured inside to the far wall.  
Andy and Josh.  
She ran in with Qwen close behind her. Andy was just sitting up, and his face was cut in several places, black and blue in others. She worriedly felt his arms and chest. "Did you break any bones?"  
He shook his head and then winced. "No," he said through gritted teeth, then he smiled. "But do keep feeling my chest anyway."  
Zara smiled and then helped Andy stand up. He leaned a little on his right foot, but he appeared all right.  
"Sir Eryk came back and decided to use Josh and me as punching bags," he said as they stood there, Andy testing his weight on his feet.  
Zara was examining the cuts on his chest that had cut through his shirt. She looked up at him. "Oh, you poor thing," she said. Andy smiled down at her.  
"Does this mean I get a kiss?" he asked.  
Zara smiled and rose up to kiss him. Before she could go back down, Andy caught her arm so that she had to stay up on her tiptoes. He stared down into her eyes. "I love you," he said.  
Zara felt her heart flutter and beat against her chest. She smiled, for she had known how she felt about Andy for a long time, since that day in the courtyard. "I love you too."  
Andy smiled and they kissed again.  
Bowen cleared his throat. "Hey, lovebirds! Knock it off! Let's get out of here."  
Zara began to help Andy to walk when she noticed that Qwen and Josh were also still in the cell, which mean that Bowen's comment wasn't directed to just her and Andy. She smiled for her friend—sister, she corrected herself with a smile.  
They walked out of the cell, Bowen, Kara, and Brother Gilbert up front since the Four Chosen were moving somewhat slowly.  
"Sir Eryk was trying to beat information out of us," Andy said from nowhere.  
"Information?" Zara asked, looking back up at him.  
He nodded, then winced. "If you had gotten your powers, how powerful you were, but mostly where you were."  
"You got beaten up because of me!" she cried.  
"Yeah, pretty much," Andy replied. "But Sir Eryk didn't get anything out of Josh and me."  
They came upon the door that Zara had kicked in.  
"Whoa," Andy said as they approached it. "Qwen's stronger than I thought."  
Qwen heard this and piped up from behind Andy. "As much as I'd like to take credit for that, I didn't do it."  
Andy looked down at Zara. "You?" he asked with a bit of uncertainty. Zara sheepishly nodded.  
"Me. It turns out that I'm a lot stronger than I thought. I can even hit guys without hurting my hand."  
Andy began to chuckle softly when they came out onto the roof. Sunfire and Mooncry were tied down, their mouths muzzled.  
"Sunfire!" Zara cried. As Qwen came out of the passage, she too cried out the name of her dragon.  
"It's the Four Chosen!" someone yelled.  
"Get them!" another one cried.  
"This doesn't look good," Andy said.  
"It isn't," Zara replied. She gently shoved Andy back into the corridor, where Qwen was stuffing Josh.  
"Stay there," they commanded them. Bowen, Kara, and Brother Gilbert, all weaponless, joined Andy and Josh.  
Zara and Qwen leapt into the fight.  
  
Josh and Andy transformed while still sitting in the corridor. Both boys winced when it was over.  
"Sir Eryk really did a number on us," Josh complained as he rubbed a bump on his head.  
Andy gingerly felt his swollen eye. "Has it turned black yet?"  
Josh laughed. "It looks like a coal sitting on your face, man," he said. Andy just gave him a look, sighed to himself, and tried to get comfortable, which was impossible with all the wounds to his legs.  
Josh watched as Qwen fended off soldier after soldier. She gave an uppercut to one, then bashed his chest with her shield before she zapped him with magic. She grabbed one guy's arm and twisted it up so that it broke. Then she kneed his chest and bashed his head against the ground.  
Josh was amazed. He had no idea that Qwen could fight like that. He found that his thoughts strayed slightly away from Qwen's fighting to admire the way that the setting sun—yes, the sun was setting—cast shadows of blues and purples on her face, making her eyes sparkle like jewels. Josh felt his breath catch in his chest.  
He was sitting in direct view of the moon, and he could feel its cool rays on his skin. They sunk deep into him, creating a soothing cool that sent shivers up and down his bruised spine.  
His gaze traveled up to the sky, and now that Qwen was off his mind—or at least, not the only thing he was thinking of—and he was gazing up at the first stars of the night, he knew that the slowing of his breath wasn't something normal.  
Indeed, he could feel his lungs slowing down, slowly stopping. He began to shake; this was weird!  
"You okay?" Andy asked beside him.  
Josh shook his head. "I—I'm not breathing," Josh said quietly.  
Andy's hand traveled up to feel his own breath. "And I am," Andy said to himself. He looked at Josh. "Zara and I think that since we get our powers from the sun, then the sun can act like an energy source when we're in it. That means that it can make it so that we don't have to breathe anymore. Whenever we're not in the sun's rays then we have to breathe. I think that's the same for you and Qwen, only with the moon," Andy explained.  
Josh nodded. "That makes sense, I guess." Suddenly he could feel something changing and shifting on his body. He looked down to see that the wounds on his chest and arms were closing up—healing!  
Andy eyed him with envy. "Lucky. I think I broke a rib," he said, gingerly feeling his rib cage.  
"I asked you if you had broken any bones," chided a voice nearby. Both boys looked up to see Zara staring down on them. She had a smile on her lips, but her eyes held a sadness, and they could see that some of her victims' blood had splattered up to her face.  
She knelt down and held her hand over the area that Andy had his hand. He moved his hand and she pressed hers firmly into his chest. Andy winced and Zara looked at him apologetically. "Sorry."  
"What are you—" Andy began, but soon he knew what Zara was doing.  
As Zara closed her eyes, a warm glow started to shine all over her body.  
  
Andy stared at Zara as she did. . .whatever it was that she was doing. But there was no doubt about it—she looked incredible.  
The light around her looked like the sunshine, and soon it started to creep over to Andy. He could feel the warmth sink into his skin. Soon, it took him over completely and he had to close his eyes. The heat swelled and then it vanished completely.  
He opened his eyes—which didn't hurt anymore from where Sir Eryk had beaten him—to see the smiling face of Zara looking at him. "Better?" she asked.  
He nodded, and didn't wince! He looked down to see all his cuts healed. He moved a little bit, and not a bit of pain coursed through his body.  
He smiled. "Thanks."  
Josh rolled his eyes. "Are you going to kiss again? That's really getting old, you know that?"  
Andy looked at him. "Well if it bothers you so much, why don't you go out there and kiss Qwen? I know you like her," Andy said as Josh started to flush.  
"And she likes you!" Zara piped.  
Josh looked at them in disgust, then stood up. "I'm going out there to fight, and that's all."  
Josh stormed off and Zara and Andy watched him leave, then they leaned in to kiss.  
  
Qwen fired magic at another soldier before she stole their sword and chopped Mooncry's muzzle off.  
"Thanks, Qwen," he said gratefully. "Watch your back!" he called.  
Qwen turned in time to see a giant soldier charging at her. She was about to zap him with magic when someone's sword sliced through him. It was Josh.  
He stepped up to her and looked around for a second before he dropped his sword, grabbed her waist and pulled her tight against him. He pressed his lips against hers.  
Qwen could feel her heart beating, the wind winding around her skin, the feel of the shield against her arm. Her heart quickened and beat against her chest, quicker with every second.  
Josh wrapped his arms tighter around her waist, and Qwen found herself dropping her sword and reaching her hand up to put around his neck.  
"Hey you kids, snap out of it!" Mooncry called, laughing beside them. "You've got a war to fight!"  
They reluctantly pulled apart and looked to where Mooncry was pointing with his paw. Hordes of villagers were charging, catching all of the soldiers by surprise. Following them were Westwail and Eastflame. They flew out quickly and soared up over the crowd, reaching the soldiers near the back where none of the villagers had gotten yet.  
They opened up their mouths and orange and deep blue light shot down, making most of the men fall down.  
Qwen and Josh smiled at each other. "Cool," Josh said.


	9. The Heroines Meet the Villian

Hours later, all of the castle soldiers had been disbanded, and now the Four Chosen, Bowen, Kara, Brother Gilbert, the dragons, and a whole bunch of villagers were alone on the roof when Sir Eryk appeared.  
He showed up in a flash of black smoke, smirking and smiling.  
"So, Princesses, I see that you have survived my curse!" he cried.  
"Your curse?" Qwen asked.  
"Lord Frityr!" Zara cried, shock apparent all over her face. Qwen glanced at her as the words that Draco had said floated back to her mind.  
"Crap," she muttered under her breath.  
Sir Eryk/Lord Frityr laughed. "That's right, Zara! I have taken over this body, and I once again will defeat you!" he cried.  
"Fat chance!" Qwen cried.  
He laughed again and clapped his hands. From all around them black smoke men showed up, wielding weapons. One snatched Zara and carried her over to Lord Frityr.  
"Zara!" Andy called and started to go after her, but all of the smoke men jumped on him, holding him back. He threw punches and kicks, but the men were made out of smoke—he couldn't hurt them. All he could do was struggle.  
And now Zara was being carried to Lord Frityr, who smirked as he grabbed her in a steel-trap grip. He held her tightly to his frame and whipped out a knife to press against her neck.  
He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Welcome back, Princess," came the steely voice of Sir Eryk.  
Zara looked at him in cold hatred.  
"Let her go!" Andy yelled.  
Lord Frityr turned Sir Eryk's body and he laughed again. "Oh, sure, boy. I'll just let her go."  
Zara felt his grip loosen a little as he laughed and she took her chance. She brought her foot up quickly and hit the man in his face. He backed away, causing a small line of blood to appear on her neck. Zara turned to cut him, but the smoke men grabbed her and dragged her back to her friends.  
Sir Eryk/Lord Frityr stood back up, angry now. "Kill them!" he cried before he disappeared.  
The smoke men charged again and everyone fought them off, to no avail.  
"It's no good!" a villager cried. "They're made out of smoke! They just keep coming back."  
Zara turned the hilt of her sword in her hands. It flashed and shone in the pale moonlight. Her neck was throbbing from where Sir Eryk or Lord Frityr or whoever the Hell he was had cut her neck. She knew the blade must've been magic or something, and the constant throbbing making her angrier and angrier at every throb.  
She fought numbly, her thoughts not in her actions. She knew they were doing something wrong, but what?  
"You okay?" Andy asked as he fought his way to her side. Zara nodded absently, the action sending shivers of pain up and down her neck. "You're not okay," Andy said. "You winced. What's—ow! Ha, ha!—wrong?" Andy asked, a smoke man getting past his defenses and delivering a blow to his side before he clubbed him over the head with his sword's hilt and ran him through.  
"Nothing. Just the blade that jerk used must've been magical. The cut's kind of throbbing a little."  
Something orange glittered in her peripheral vision and Zara looked over to see Andy's sword, brightly shining though the moon's light wasn't very bright. Over to her right she could see Josh's blue sword, glowing the way Andy's was. Suddenly it hit her.  
Andy and Josh were their protectors, which meant that they fought the battle while Qwen and Zara went and fought the main bad guy—that's how it was cast in the spell. That meant that Andy and Josh would have the power to defeat these smoke guys.  
"Andy!" Zara called. He looked over at her.  
"What?!" he asked.  
"I figured it out!" she cried. Zara ran another smoke guy through and chopped another's head off.  
"Figured what out?" he asked.  
"How to defeat these guys!"  
"How?" Andy asked.  
"You and Josh have the power," Zara said as she kicked one guy in the stomach and dodged a blow from another.  
"What?" he replied, confused.  
"Only you two can do it," she said again.  
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Andy asked.  
Zara shrugged. "I don't know. That's not my job. It's yours."  
Andy sighed and nodded. "Fine. Cover me."

Andy closed his eyes and tried to drown out the sounds of the fight around him. He had no idea what he was doing, but he hoped that it would come to him soon.  
He held his sword loosely in his hands. The fight died around him, and soon the only thing he could hear was his heart beating and his breath coming out, steady and sure.  
He opened his eyes and spun around, a war cry escaping from his lips. He could feel something warm rushing through him; his pocket watch was burning against his skin through his shirt.  
From his pocket watch shot an orange light, bright as the sunlight and as he ran his sword through the smoke men, they too turned orange. They hissed as they vanished in a whiff of smoke.  
"You did it!" Zara cried. Andy looked at her.  
"I did it," he repeated, hardly believing what he had done. Zara flung her arms around his neck and quickly and briefly pressed her lips against his. She backed up and shoved him a little way away from her.  
"Now go tell Josh and kill all of these windbags," she said.  
"Where are you going?" he asked. Her neck wound had started to turn bright red, and it was creeping up her neck. "Heal your neck first," he said.  
Zara smiled. "Don't worry, I will. I've got to go and find Sir Eryk or Lord Frityr or whatever."  
Andy reached out a hand and held her there. "Not without me!" he said.  
Sunfire landed beside them. "You're not meant to fight that fight! Only Zara and Qwen are supposed to."  
"To Hell with the prophecy!" Andy cried.  
"What's going on?" Josh asked as he stepped up beside them, Qwen behind him.  
"Qwen, you and I are going to go find Sir Eryk," Zara said.  
"And I'm going with you," Andy said, his eyes narrowing and growing dark.  
Sunfire shook her massive head. "No, you and Josh must stay here and fight Lord Frityr's army. Zara and Qwen must face him alone."  
Now Josh spoke up. "I don't think so! Qwen's not facing that jerk by herself!"  
  
Qwen looked at Josh—was he worried about her going alone?  
"They have to!" Sunfire repeated, urgent this time. "The prophecy states—"  
"I don't give a damn about the prophecy," Josh snapped. "They're not going alone." His tone was serious.  
Andy's arm moved protectively around Zara's waist. "She's not going into that fight with that bastard by herself."  
Now Sunfire's eyes grew deadly serious. "The prophecy states that only Zara and Qwen can face Lord Frityr and come back alive. Everyone else will fall before him." Everyone grew silent as Sunfire's words penetrated them. "If you go before him," she told Andy and Josh, "you will not come back. You will die."  
"You're staying right here!" Zara cried, turning to face Andy. "Besides, you and Josh are the only ones who can kill these smoke things."  
"What's she talking about?" Josh asked Andy.  
Andy shook his head and said, "I'll tell you later." Then he turned to Zara. "I can't just stay here and leave you to go off and fight that guy alone."  
"She won't be alone," Qwen piped up. "I'll be with her."  
Josh turned to face Qwen. "And I don't want you to go alone." He put his hands on her face. "I love you, Qwen, and I don't want to lose you."  
Josh's eyes burned into hers. "I love you too," she replied, her breath almost taken away, "but I have to fight him."  
Westwail landed between them. "What's the problem here?" he asked, annoyed. "The Princesses have to go and fight Lord Jerk."  
"The Protectors won't let them go alone," Sunfire explained.  
"All that time in that slumber thing they were in and they still love them?" Westwail asked. "They wouldn't let them go the last time, and look what happened!"  
Sunfire nodded. "I know, but there's no convincing them."  
"Wait a sec. Are you telling me that this is what happened before that caused them to die?" Andy asked. Westwail nodded.  
"So you're saying that if they don't go now, they'll die?" Josh asked. Westwail nodded again. Josh turned and kissed Qwen. "Good fight," he said.  
Andy and Zara kissed as well. "Come back," Andy said.  
Zara looked at him. "You know what I just realized?"  
"What?" he asked.  
"You promised me you'd come back, but you didn't. You broke your promise," she teased.  
Andy smiled and wrapped her into a bigger kiss. "Just don't break your promise. I don't know what I'd do without you."  
Zara kissed him. "I'll come back. If I die, then I wouldn't have you, so I have to come back."

"Isn't that sweet?" Qwen said, rolling her eyes. Josh turned to her.  
"You're going to come back too, right?" he asked. Qwen caught his intense look. He stepped forward and kissed her like he had never kissed her before—it was quite like Andy and Zara's first kiss.  
He stepped back and held her face in his hands. "Come back to me."  
Qwen could only nod before Sunfire ushered the girls away. "Go on, get out of here! No more wasting time, as romantic as all that is. You've got a culture to save."  
The girls fought their way to the western tower's door, leaving their hearts back with Andy and Josh.

* * *

They searched place after place in the castle, to no avail. Zara's neck wound grew redder and redder as they walked. It had grown up into her face now, creeping toward her nose. She walked slower than normal, and she had to sheath her sword.  
She clasped Qwen's hand, and Qwen was surprised to find it cold. "Qwen," she whispered.  
Qwen found herself putting a hand on Zara's shoulder. "Just heal it, Zara," she said, but Zara shook her head, wincing.  
"I can't—our healing powers come from soaking up power all day—or night—and saving it. I've tried healing myself. I—I spent it all on Andy." She leveled her eyes with Qwen's. "Qwen, I think I'm going to die."  
A low, evil laugh came from the shadows. They were on another open space on the roof of the castle. The moon hung bright overhead, and Qwen knew that Zara's words were true. She worried for her friend.  
The form of Sir Eryk stalked out of the shadows, an evil grin on his face. "You are going to die, Highness," he said with a slight bow. He turned to Qwen. "And you, peasant, are going to die with her."  
Qwen suddenly found herself floating toward Sir Eryk, only now Lord Frityr had completely taken over his body. He pulled out a blade from his belt and held it up for Qwen to see. She could see dried blood on the tip. "See that blood? That's the blood of your sister." He gently slid the blade across Qwen's neck, a mirror image of the slice across Zara's. "And now yours joins it."  
Qwen winced as the blade's magic bit against her skin. Suddenly Lord Frityr's face winced and he hissed. Qwen was released from his magic and she backed up to see Zara standing there, her sword's blade dripping with blood. She had run Lord Frityr through.  
"Qwen, quick!" she said in a voice that was dripping with pain. "Blast him with magic!" she cried.  
Qwen pointed her finger at Lord Frityr and she shot him with magic. Now his body glowed with half-sunlight, half-moonlight.  
"Now on my count," Zara cried again. Lord Frityr seemed to be immobile. Zara spat at him before she held her sword ready to run him through again. "That was for the blood of my sister," she said, then she spat at him again, "that was for the blood of the ones we love," again, she spat, "that was for me," and here she kicked him in the place where it would hurt guys most. "And that was just for the heck of it."  
Now with Lord Frityr bent over in pain, Zara readied her sword over his neck. She looked at Qwen. "On the count of three! One, two—"  
Qwen rushed forward and socked Lord Frityr, a blast that sent him flying backward to the edge of the rooftop courtyard. She looked at Zara. "I just couldn't help myself." They shared a smile, then hurried over to Lord Frityr again. Zara placed her blade over his heart, and Qwen aimed for the same spot.  
"One, two—" Qwen tensed and she could see Zara do the same. "Three!" the sisters cried at the same time. Zara's and Qwen's magic penetrated the heart of Sir Eryk that Lord Frityr had taken over.  
Both girls backed away as Sir Eryk's body was lifted up and a red and black light seared through him. The light brought forth a spirit of a man, and dropped Sir Eryk's body in a heap.  
"It's Lord Frityr!" Qwen gasped as the man cried out against the light.  
He stared dead at the two girls and laughed. "You may have defeated me, but you will die again!" he yelled, then screamed in pain as the light sunk into him, and he faded and died, a flickering image.  
Then a burning white light filled their eyes and once the light had receded enough so that they could look up, they could see the constellation of Dragon Heaven, sparkling and glowing.  
Qwen felt something shift and churn inside her, and she knew that the magic that was burning in her was burning in the night sky, and it was bringing the dragons back. All above them, suddenly, dragons appeared, roaring and flying.  
Qwen and Zara looked at each other and smiled, then Zara collapsed and fell to the ground.  
"Zara!" Qwen yelled. She bent down to her friend's side and held her head up.  
Zara looked up at her, eyes hazed over with pain. The redness covered her face and she was weak and trembling. Qwen could see the red traveling quickly all over her friend's body. "Qwen," Zara whispered. Qwen looked back into Zara's eyes. "You're turning black," she said, then passed out.  
Qwen looked at her own hands to see them turning a deep black, the very color of the black light that had helped destroy Lord Frityr. She could feel waves of pain sweep through her body. Spots danced before her eyes and she sank to the ground, beside her sister. The last thing Qwen saw were the dragons flying across the night sky. 

A/N: Mwuahaha, I shall be evil and cut you off here for now. Chapter ten shall be up soon. It's done, I'm just hanging around to see if anyone will bother to review. cries


	10. Hope

A/N: Find a more final note at the bottom; this is just an apology for the lack of tabs. Ffn is not cooperationg and I can't get them; if any of you know how, PLEASE tell me. It really bothers me to not have tabs > 

Zara and Qwen were in a huge field, one half of the sky showered in daylight, the other night. Zara and Qwen lay beside each other on the borders of their respective sides, just soaking up the power their celestial body fed them.  
"Zara!"  
"Qwen!"  
Both girls sat up, recognizing the voices.  
"Hello, Andy!" Zara cried when she saw Andy and Josh standing by each other a few paces away.  
"Hi, Josh," Qwen said.  
"You've got to come back with us!" Andy pleaded. He rushed forward and took Zara's hands. He stared into her eyes and his hand held the back of her head firmly, his fingers in her hair. "Come back with me," he pleaded.  
Zara only laughed. "I can't, silly! Besides, isn't this place lovely?" she asked, gesturing around with her hand.  
Andy shook her head slightly with his hand. "No! Fight it, Zara! I know you can beat it! Come back!"

Josh was holding Qwen in his arms, gently rocking her back and forth. He was crying silently. "Come back, Qwen," he sobbed onto her head. "Please, come back."  
"I can't go back, Josh!" Qwen replied.  
Josh cried harder into her head. "Please, come back. You have to!"

Andy took something from his pocket, a fruit of some sort and handed it to Zara. "Here, eat this."  
She eyed him mistrustfully. "Why? What is it?"  
"It'll make you better," Andy said, putting it in her hand.  
She tried to pull away. "I'm fine!"  
Andy took it now and pressed it into her mouth. "Just eat it."  
Zara chewed it and swallowed. "There. Happy?"

Josh took a small fruit out of his pocket and handed it to Qwen. "Here," he said.  
"What is it?" Qwen asked, suspicious.  
"Just eat it, please," Josh begged.  
Qwen sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine." She chewed it and swallowed it.

Zara began to cough and spots danced before her eyes. She looked at Andy. "What did you do to me?" she coughed before everything went black.

Qwen choked and coughed, and shook with pain. "What did you do?" she asked Josh before she passed out in his arms.

* * *

Zara woke up coughing. She opened her eyes to see that she was in a white room with a high ceiling. She looked over to see Andy's worried face hovering by her. There were tear marks on his face.  
"Zara!" he cried when he saw her head turn toward him. He leaned over to kiss her—he was on his knees and the bed was low—then he buried his head in her shoulder. "I was so worried!" he sobbed into her.  
"What happened?" Zara asked vaguely. Her mind was foggy and things were just beginning to clear, but she couldn't remember anything yet.  
He looked up into her face. "You—you don't remember?" he asked.  
Zara shook her head. She could vaguely remember a blade with her blood and someone else's on it, and a burning pain in her neck, and a beautiful field full of sunlight, but it was all foggy.  
Andy looked into her eyes. "You died," he said. 

Qwen coughed so hard that she sat up. She immediately felt someone's arms around her, and she looked into the face of the person that was holding her. It was Josh. His eyes were welling with tears of joy. He kissed her, then hugged her again.  
"Qwen! You're alive!" he cried.  
"Why wouldn't I be?" Qwen asked.  
Josh looked at her. "Lord Frityr. He cut you—" Josh stopped. "Can't you remember?"  
Qwen shook her head. Things were very faint and distant in her mind. Josh leveled his eyes with hers.  
"You passed out and were out for the longest ti—" he stopped and looked at her, tears beginning to form again as he remembered the grief of the past week. "Qwen, you—you died."

* * *

Another week recovering, and soon the Princesses were as good as new, except for the red scar that was on Zara's left collarbone, and the black one on Qwen's right collarbone.  
They had slipped in and out of consciousness, but the sleep was a healing sleep, and soon their memories were back and they were being filled in of what happened after they had died.  
"All of the smoke men disappeared, I guess around the same time Lord Frityr died because right after that a bright white light filled the world," Josh said.  
"And then the dragons appeared," Andy jumped in. "Everyone celebrated for a while, until we started to wonder where you were."  
"That was when we went to look for you," Mooncry said. "We found you in that courtyard, side by side, each your own color of red or black."  
"We took you to Gandor to try to get its magic to restore you. We were instructed to find Calypso, for she would know where to find the Fruit of Life," Sunfire said as she gestured over to a small dragon the same size as Eastflame and Westwail.She had all the colors of the Four Chosen splashed all over her body.  
"And then we tried to get you to eat it, but by that time you were—you were—" Eastflame broke off and looked down at his feet.  
"Dead?" Zara filled in. Eastflame nodded.  
"So we knew that we had to send someone into the Place Beyond to try to bring you back," Westwail said. "And of course everyone knows that your own Place Beyond lies in your own head, and the only one would could bring you out would be someone that you could listen to, so we sent Andy and Josh."  
"I think you know the rest," Andy said.  
Zara looked at him. "And what of my parents? Are they dead as well as Sir Eryk?"  
Andy looked down and nodded sadly.  
Zara felt an urge to cry, but it quickly dissipated. She had never really known them as parents anyway. She nodded. "I suppose it must be so."  
"And now, Princesses," Sunfire said brightly after a moment of silence, "if you feel well enough, you can go get ready for your coronation tonight!"  
"Coronation?" Qwen asked.  
Bowen, Kara, and Brother Gilbert stepped out from behind the dragons. "You're being crowned the Queens of this land!" Bowen cried.  
"And you—" Kara said, looking at Andy and Josh, "you are being knighted and dubbed the rulers of the army."  
The day passed by quickly. The coronation was a wonderful event. Everyone turned out for it, and they had a lovely meal. Now the Four Chosen lay staring up at the setting sun on the courtyard where Lord Frityr cut Zara.  
The sun was sinking beneath the edge of the sky, sending orange and red across the bottom of the sky. Light purple and deep blue were further up the sky, and at the very top was the deepest black. A few stars showed. Zara cuddled up against Andy's body. She and Qwen lay between Josh and Andy. Qwen put her head on Josh's shoulder. The stars of Dragon Heaven suddenly appeared in the sky, though the sun was still a while off from setting. It shone brightly as a dragon flew across the sky.

The End

A/N. And that's the end. Leave your reviews. Sorry it took so long to post this-I lost my copy of the story and couldn't find it for the longest time. After I recovered from the heart attack of finding it missing, I looked more carefully through my floppy discs and found it XD So there it is. I hope you enjoyed it.


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